Estudio lexicológico de las onomatopeyas vascas: El Euskal Onomatopeien Hiztegia: Euskara-Ingelesera Gaztelania

Abstract

Onomatopoeia is the word used in Basque lexicology to describe those words in which there exists a more or less direct relationship between sound and meaning. In this article, we describe the lexicographical work performed in order to draft a trilingual dictionary of Basque onomatopoeias, the Euskal Onomatopeien Hiztegia: Euskara-Ingelesera-Gaztelania (Ibarretxe-Antuñano 2006) and the reasons which led to its creation. Despite the importance of onomatopoeias in the lexicon of this language, some Basque authors defining them as the carriers of primitive Basque culture (Lecuona 1964), studies systematically collecting the great lexical wealth of the Basque language had previously been carried out, bar a few word lists in a limited number of publications (Azkue 1923-25; Zamarripa 1987).The creation of this dictionary is a first step towards the recognition of these words in Basque studies. The article is organised as follows: Section 1 is a brief overview of the place occupied by onomatopoeias in linguistic studies and the reasons why they occupy such a place; Section 2 deals with the steps taken in order to create this dictionary; and Section 3 describes the structural, morphosyntactic and morphosemantic characteristics of Basque onomatopoeias. The conclusion then indicates the possible applications and limitations of a dictionary of this kind.