Onomatopoetics in Tamil K. PARAMASIVAM Madurai University 0. The aim of this paper is to suggest that many forms, generally considered as onomatopoeia in Tamil, are not onomatopoeia in that they are not “imitative of sounds’ or ‘expressive of sounds’. By onomatopoeia, it is generally meant that “its primary form is the imitation of sound by sound. Here the sound is truly an echo of to the sense, the referent itself is an acoustic experience which is more or less closely imitated by the phonetic structure of the word”.1 Diachsonically and synchronically the socalled onomatopocia are eitter verbstems or nows derived from stems. The (ì arguments are to be taken as suggestive and not as exhaustive. Ç 1.1. Tamil grammarians recognise two types of reproduced forms: (i) repetitives (apukku t togar) and (ii) reduplicatives (irappaikki lavi) When a “full word” is repeated” the resultant form is called a repetitive. e.g. paampu paampu “snake! Snake!' Kurut tatu kurut tatu “(it) became short, (it) become short’. (Tol-Col uraikovi I p 213). When an “incomplete word’ (or form) is reproduced, the result would be a reduplicative. c.g. ku rukurut ta tu “(it) became very short’. karukaru! tatu ‘(it) became very black". 281
