What does the fox say? - Onomatopoeia part 1 (animal sounds)

I've chosen onomatopoeia as it seems a bit tricky even for advanced learners. I, myself, reading English books with my son use a dictionary at times to find a new onomatopoeic word which I haven't heard or read before. What is onomatopoeia then?

ONOMATOPOEIA

is a word that imitates the sound it represents.

Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like the thing or action it describes.

Each language consists of a wide spectrum of words imitating sounds. I noticed lots of them in English children books as well. They make a story more interesting, attract young readers and make them laugh :) I even regard pictures in toddlers books that don't have any clouds with onomatopoeic words a little bit poorer. Kids love such expressions so, when you read them books, always try to modulate you voice and do not omit numerous words imitating sounds.

Firstly, let's have a look at those most popular and known by everybody onomatopoeic words representing animal sounds! The following photos are from my child's books. I looked through all of them and found an enormous amount of onomatopoeic expressions, obviously I can't put all pictures on the blog as it would be the longest post ever :)

     Turkeys go 'gobble!'

       ducks go 'quack',

       birds go 'tweet' or 'chirp'

doves go 'coo-coo',

owls go 'hoo, hoo',

       chicks go 'cheep',

       hens go 'cluck'.

       geese go 'honk',

       roosters go 

      'cock -a -doodle -doo!'

            

      Dogs go 'ruff,ruff!' or 'woof,woof',

   cats go 'miaow',

frogs go 'ribbit' or 'croak',

   cows go 'moo',

   sheep go 'baaa',

pigs go 'oink'

donkeys go 'hee-haw',

   elephants go 'toot'

                                                                                                   

    

    Crocodiles go 'snap,snap',

     horses go 'neigh',

     mice, hamsters, hares,rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas go 'squeak',

     snakes go 'hiss'

   bees go 'bzzz',

flies go 'buzz',

     

lions and tigers go 'roarrrr'  

or lions go 

burp - a noise made by air released from the stomach through the mouth (in Polish : 'beknięcie'). 

:-)

Dinosaurs are extinct, of course, but children love books about them and each child knows that when they lived they used to go:

but also:

when walking.

thud - a dull, heavy sound, such as that made by an object falling to the ground (in Polish: 'łomot').

It's certain I haven't exhausted the subject yet, I have only presented the most popular animals and their sounds in this post. I'm planning to deepen this topic as it is really interesting to me - a language enthusiast. To be continued....  Ta-ta for now!

The proof that children love onomatopoeia is this song, known and often sung by British students even at schools :)

Try to sing it and have fun!

 What does the fox say?

:)