Onomatopoeia: the true story
It was said when she was just a child, she was playing on the street of the village when she saw a man “slapping” a door. Suddenly she started saying “knock knock”. She was inventing her first word inspired by an action.
With time she had learned how to repeat human vocal sounds like babbling and coughing.
She developed a special talent to create words which resemble the very noise or sound itself. Her name was Onomatopoeia.
One day, as she was walking towards the town,
she saw a group of languages who were talking about a legend. They were telling
an ancient Greek myth about the creator of languages. According to this myth
the one who could imitate the sounds of the nature, is the real creator of the very
first human language and for this reason he/she would have the right to
govern Glottaland, the kingdom of
languages where all languages originated.
As she was listening, her heart started to beat
faster and faster. This story felt so familiar that she couldn’t stop thinking
about it. Yes, of course! She was the creator of all languages. In addition, her
name had a symbolic meaning: ὀνοματοποιία in the Greek language means
"making or creating names".
She yelled: ‘Glottaland! Here I am. Your only
creator! I am Onomatopoeia. I am the creator of all human languages in the
world. I have created the very first words by imitating their nature. I am the evidence
for how natural a language is. The legend is true. Greek philosophers also knew
the truth: that language itself is derived from natural sounds in the world
around us. You have to kneel down before me!’
The folk of Glottaland laughed.
‘You are no one, young lady!” – said
someone from the crowd – “ It’s only a myth. Nobody believes in this story
anymore.”.
”If you had created the words from their
sounds, how would you explain that different languages refer to the same thing
with different words? Why don’t all languages use your words?’
‘I have
created the very first words imitating their natural sounds.” – replied
Onomatopoeia –“I have shown a way of creation to you, ungrateful languages. All
of you are different, all of you have different characteristics, you are
different from each other typologically,
you have founded different language families. If you are different, you
certainly approach the world differently. You certainly perceive the noises
differently, you name things differently.”
A wise
old language showed up from the crowd. He was very angry and he was yelling
around: ‘Shut up, stupid modern languages. You are so sceptical that you can’t
see the truth! The myth is true!’ And while he was saying it, he took out the
crown of Glottaland.
Form that moment begins the story of the royal
dynasty of Glottaland.
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