USE OF ONOMATOPOEIA IN COMIC STRIPS AND CARTOONS
"Ker-rash Bats! Bats! Bang Clang Rowf Rowf Grrrrrr Zoef Zoef Rumble Rummmmble Pow Flip Flip Flip Flip Raah! Oeps! Grrroowwll Ker-plop Raah! Yeow! Shplop! Glop! Whap! Grrr!!! Zzzz Ha! Oef! Bump! Oop! Oh, Oh! Smash! Ah Ah Ah Chooo! Purrr... Nok! Nok! Gloep! Thud Wap! Wap! Wap! Atsjoe! Wham Oef! Thump Kerplunk Klink Klink Klink Wham! Aha! Raah! Bam! Wam Erk! Slam Unngh! Bam! Blam Bang! Ah-Choo Crash Bam Wak Auw! Raaah!!! Zip! Hee, Hee! Bam! Bam! Pow! Zzzzz Blip! Blip! Whirrr Zip Yargg! Twoinnng! Bam! Plok! Zip! Klop! Whap! Swoesj Wump! Bump! Bump! Zoef! Bats! Bam Splash! Yaargg Twoing! Gurrrk! Grmpf! Swish! Plap! Klunk! Tjee! Gung! Bah! Rrrr-rr Rrrrrrr! Rrrrrrrrr! Zzzz Zzzz Oef! Zzzzz... Ha! Zzzzz Brmm! Brmm! Huh? Nok! Nok! Oeps! Oei! Push! Huh? Gloep! Pow! Bop! Whack! Zip! Oempf! Flut Flut Flut Zoef! Zoef! Crash! Smash! Grmpf!"
Don't be afraid! 😉 What you just read is only the comics language taken from a Dutch version of a Tweety & Sylvester comic album out of 1979.
Twietie En Silvester - Boontje Komt Om Zijn Loontje! © Warner Bros Inc.
That comics or cartoon language is not a language that we generally speak, but sometimes we do without us much noticing. Mainly it's a special language that cartoonists and comic strip writers use to reproduce sounds. It is therefore called a sound imitation or onomatopoeia. Comic strips and cartoons make extensive use of such onomatopoeias. With letters or words the cartoonist or comic writer aims to reach a special synesthetic effect with the readers, thus involving more than one sense. The popular ZZZ and its variations for instance are worldwide accepted as a representation of sleeping, snoring... Fairly new - a dialect book dates it back to as early as 1918 - it has quickly become self-evident in and beyond the comic world.
Even in literature this figurative language is used by writers and poets to create a heightened experience for the reader. When used in poetry, onomatopoeia create a rhythmic pattern that mimicks real sounds, just take "the buzzing bee". And don't forget, many children's books are first encounters when it comes to sound language.
Crossing the bridge to music, there are many nursery rhymes, old and new, that make generous use of words that have their origin in sounds. Or remember 1971 when Scottish band Middle of the Road had a UK number one chart hit with 'Chirpy Chirpy, Cheep Cheep'. Next to that you'll find music genre and instrument names invented after the sound they make, as it happens 'bebop' and 'wah-wah'. Also advertising and media often rely heavily on sound imitations. Onomatopoeic words behave as mnemonics or memory support and make sure that the person remembers the catchy slogans or punch lines. Think of the 'SNAP, CRACKLE, POP' onomatopoeic gnomes in the advert for rice krispies, who sound as the mixing of these cereals with milk.
Pffffft
The word onomatopoeia comes from onomatopoiÃa, which is Greek for 'name making'. That Greek term made its entry in English language in the late 1500s. In real life, we do use onomatopoeia but for different sorts of sounds. Cats meow, birds chirp and bored humans go pffffft for example. Some linguists even theorize that language itself evolved from humans trying to imitate the sounds of the natural world.
There are some books or studies that treat this subject, so if you really want to know this sound language you can delve into them. I just try to write only a short piece about it that wants to be informative, comprehensive and amusing in the first place. But for all the other, more ambitious readers it's difficult to make a complete onomatopoeia list. Imagine the research that goes into it. I found for instance an onomatopoeia database on the internet (www.comicbookfx.com). That database contained 2.537 sound effects from 287 comics on the 26th of august 2022. There are many words out of older American comics but on Twitter and Tumbler the website keeper posts "cool new sound fx" from new comics the week they come out. Although noble it's a hard, nearly impossible task to gather all the comics' word sounds.
But a common part present can give you a view on how diverse the comic strip language is. You'll find these standard expressions in many comic stories: for example VROOM pointing out a running engine, SPLASH for falling water, TONK when someone bumps his head or POW when giving a knock or a kick...
Peanuts Every Sunday © Fantagraphics
Wikipedia also has a list of onomatopoeias: a nice exemplary draft, for sure, but not at all complete. One definite guiding book wouldn't be appropriate also because it could kill all inventiveness. Rather it's a fantasy language, an imaginative creation of words based on existing sounds. So, there has to be some music in it as well, because everything musical is made from sound. And that makes it all so funny to read and watch. Just cast an eye on Pinterest.
A certain language and literature blog makes a rough division in onomatopoeia which I find useful. Grosso modo you can experience:
▪Human sounds: GIGGLE, GARGLE, MURMUR, WHISPER, GROWL, ROAR, GRUNT, CHATTER, BLURT, HICCUP, BLABBER, SLURP...
▪Animal sounds: CHIRP, MOO, TWEET, OINK, NEIGH, BAA, MEOW, CACKLE...
▪Sounds of Water: GUSH, PLOP, SPRINKLE, SPRAY, SLOSH, SPLASH, SQUIRT, DRIZZLE, DRIP...
▪Sounds of Air: SWISH, SWOOSH, WHIZZ, FLUTTER, LASH...
▪Sounds of Collision/Explosion: BOOM, BATTER, BANG, THUD, SCREECH, CRASH, CLATTER, CROOOM...
So, at first you have the ranging in human and animal sounds. Then it's like the sounds are categorised by the four elements of life: water, air and fire. Only earth is missing... Let's try to find some sounds belonging to our soil! BRRRMMMMM, CRUNCH, HUMMM, RROOAAARR, RUMBLE, VAROOM... are just a few I'd come up with. But if they're all correct?
Amoras, De Complete Saga (2015) © Standaard Uitgeverij
Maybe earth sounds are not used so frequently as the others. Perhaps you need a volcano eruption or a mine collapse in a comic strip to find such onomatopoeia. With the climate cartoons nowadays that might be changing... just as the climate itself.
If you speak of the sound of the soil you may think of native speakers and then native Americans is only a small step. The indians listened to the sound of the earth for what was coming. Each tribe had a rich symbolic language based on images and sounds. The site rsdb.org collects native language notions and present-day slang of many different folks.
Redeye (1968-1970) © King Features Syndicate, Inc.
YIIIIIIIIIEEEY, KI YI, PIE PIE, WAHOO are words made after indian (war) cries. They are unique just as Tarzan has his famous cry AAOOOOOOAAA.
Some sound words we can ascribe to native indian comics are in the sound of their bows: TWANG and when the arrows hit target: THAK, THUNK, THWOMP... In addition arrows can have airy sound words as SWIIISH, ZING... too.
But these sounds are not reserved for indians only.
Hawkeye: Blindspot #2 (2011) © Marvel Comics ••• The bow is also very popular with comic heroes
Of course there are or were many cartoons about indians like Redeye and indian comics like Little Beaver, Apache Kid, Indian Chief, Son of Tomahawk, Big Chief Wahoo, Long Bow, Sacagawea, Turok, Yakari or Straight Arrow. All these contained other onomatopoeia, as they were made by connoisseurs of native American culture. There were even native American superheroes like Dawnstar, Apache Chief or Raven.
Flippo & Punkina (1988) © Yves Ker Ambrun ••• CLANG, a loud vibration or collision says Wikipedia, but we'll see later also a metalic banging sound
But to get back at classifying, Wikpedia adds to the rough division of human/animal sounds and the four elements among other things 'sounds made by devices or other objects' like CLANG, 'things named after sounds' with tweeter and woofer loudspeakers as example and 'works, groups and characters named after sounds', remember popduo Wham!
Japanese manga mentions another 'family': 'words that represent something visual or a feeling'. These are not true sound words but they appear in both anime - Japanese animation movies - and manga. They are mostly written in katakana, a set of written symbols representing syllables or words. An example is NIYANIAYA (smiling ironically) which has its own particular characters.
Not so universal
In graphic works sound imitations often coincide with (extreme) movement, direction or an emphasized action (like a punch, a rush of wind or crying). You can see that by the form or direction of the letters or simply in the letters themselves. Regularly you'll see word matching symbols like stars around the word TONK or water drops near the word SPLASH.
Journey Into Mystery (1952) #85 - Trapped by Loki, the God of Mischief!
© Marvel Comics
In comic series, all sounds and texts have to be written. You can't just write "the telephone rings", there is cartoon language needed for. But even in the same comic series like Tintin we found already three possible ways of sounding like a ringing telephone.
Tintin © Moulinsart
Lots of cartoonists and comic strip writers search for the most original forms and some make it recurring for recognition reasons. KNOTS for example is the sound of heads banging against each other in the Dutch legendary comics series Suske en Wiske. DOEF is used in counterpart comic Jommeke for a foot kick on an object.
Jommeke - De Schrik van Onderland (2020) © Ballon Media
Of course this can lead to problems in a translation. Onomatopoeias aren't always universal. Although the mimicked sounds nearly are the same, the word pronunciations in different languages often aren't. The western DING DONG as the sound word for a door bell is unknown in Hungary, Japan and Turkey. In Hungarian they say and write GILING GALANG when the bell goes, in Japanese CHIRIN CHIRIN and in Turkish ÇANGIR ÇUNGUR.
Different door bell sounds, even in pop art © Deborah Azzopardi
Manga
That onomatopoeia aren't the same all over the world is the most tangible in Japan. The land may have around 1.200 onomatopoeia, which tops all lexicons by far. Onomatopoeia are divided in three groups there: firstly 'words mimicking voices of people and animals' (Giseigo); secondly 'words that imitate sounds' (Giongo) and thirdly 'words that represent something visual or a feeling' (Gitaigo). As I mentioned onomatopoeia are mostly written in katakana characters. Manga, the Japanese equivalent of a comic strip, doesn’t use all of these sound words however. What's more, it leaves its sound words mostly untranslated. That's cheaper for the abroad market while there's much difference with English too, if they can be compared at all.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders Chapter 262-265 © Shueisha ••• Manga onomatopoeia are mostly written in symbols
Manga readers are simply expected to learn the original words. There are different skills needed for, like understanding aspects of Japanese culture to get the references. Their style uses overlapping images and text. And the better manga is read right to left. Besides, the medium is more multidimensional because of its complex cinematic language. Manga readers are therefore more aware of the cultural differences between countries.
When we return looking at Western comics, we notice the sound language often is short and briefly worded because there is rather little place for text in the drawings and text balloons. Like said, it's frequently original and innovative, just remember The Smurfs' language.
The Smurfs - The Black Smurfs (1963) © IMPS
Besides, as long as humans have new sounds to discover, they will continue to create new words to describe those sounds. Think about recent human actions evolving out of the new computer and digital era. These actions already are transformed in sound words and for instance are used with emoticons and on chat platforms. Think of BEEP or BLEEP, BZZT, BZZZZZ, CLIK, P(L)ING, POINK, TAP. Of course they're often used in the multiple and popular 'tech' cartoons.
The Awkward Yeti (2017) © Nick Seluk
Pioneer Crane
Looking back at the beginning of comic strip language we should mention the importance of American Roy Crane (1901–1977), creator of pioneering adventure comics Wash Tubbs, Wash Tubbs And Captain Easy and later Buz Sawyer. Onomatopoeia became popular with the Wash Tubbs comic series Crane started in 1924. Five years later he introduced the heroic character Captain Easy into that comic.
© Michael Cho
Crane was not only an innovator in his storylines and artwork, but also in his inventive use of onomatopoeic sound effects. In Wash Tubbs, he was the first to add BAM, POW and WHAM to what had previously been an almost entirely visual vocabulary. He enjoyed that highly, going further with alternative soundwords as KER-SPLASH or LICKETY-WOP along with what would stay the more standard effects.
Words as well as images became the vehicles for carrying his intensifyingly fast-going storylines. Common sound words, variations or even totally new letter combinations have popped up very fast in other comic stories since the start in Crane's series. Even in Europe, think of Tintin starting in the same year as Captain Easy.
German author Lenja Busch tells in her in-depth article 'Onomatopoeia in Comics. On the A-Human Theatre of Expression in Graphic Representations' how widespread the sound language is. "When we think about comics, graphic novels or even just Japanese manga, big, sharp words – like SWOOSH, POW and SOB – come to mind. These onomatopoeia, also known in German as 'bang words', augment the emotions felt by the characters and depict the intensity of the character’s state or the situation in general. Pop artists as Roy Lichtenstein have also been known to use big comic book fonts. While Brigitte Bardot sings about them in Serge Gainsbourg’s music video 'Comic Strip'. Even people who are not entirely familiar with the comic genre have experienced their share of comic moments and references. Without these striking words, comic frames would remain blank, punches would become less powerful and tears less touching."
© Roy Lichtenstein Estate
Busch situates the use of the sound words further. "Onomatopoetic expressions differ from other forms of written language in the comic medium as they manifest a graphic position as a carrier of meaning or narration. Onomatopoetic texts usually appear outside the framed dialogue bubble, beside the character or floating within the scenery. They have a more distinct graphic design, emitting another sphere or layer of expression, such as the sound created by the character (or by their body) or an object that is not necessarily controlled by that character or object (that is a cough, the screech of tires, gunshot...).
Lucky Luke © Morris ••• The word sounds of a gunshot in comics are very varied
These onomatopoetic expressions appear when the characters themselves are not able to capture this live expression or human emotion."
Slang
In the more mature and realistic Belgian comic strips, style Largo Winch, XIII or I.R.$, the amount of onomatopoeias seems to weaken a bit. Fewer onomatopoetic expressions are used in comic scenes where, for example, the plot begins slower and the circumstances are explained. It might also just be in proportion with the fiction dosage.
Garfield © Paws, Inc.
Words like SPLAT, ZAP and BANG are onomatopoeic terminologies that are enough versatile especially when prefixed with a KER which indicates the split second before an event takes place. There are expressions that may already be found or heard in certain slang. In Green’s Dictionary of Slang (www.greensdictofslang.com) for instance you'll find a large vocabulary of KER- and other sound words. They are a rough copy of acoustic reality. Some of the KER- words the dictionary explains as:
KERBAM! (a sudden noise or sharp shock)
KERBANG! (a sudden sharp noise or explosion)
KERWHOP! (a solid body falling onto a hard surface)
KERWHOOSH! (indicates speeding movement)
KERWHALLOP! (to bash someone usually on the jaw)
KERSLAP! (to slap someone across the face)
KERCHING! (the sound of money falling out of a gambling machine)
And so on...
The American poet Kevin J. Taylor published in 2006 Ka-BOOM!: A Dictionary of Comic Book Words, Symbols & Onomatopoeia. He put ten years of work into this compilation.
© Kevin J. Taylor
An older Canadian site out of 1997 related to this author has put out this extensive dictionary online first. The alphabetic list is very handy and still consultable as I write this. But keep in mind that this is mainly the vocabulary of American comics which differ in graphics and style from the European ones. EEEYOWW for example is a cry of surprise, protest, discomfort or pain. That's what Superman and Spider-Man, superheroes created in America, feel for each other.
Taylor's thesaurus states that comic words beginning with K are often related to explosive sounds. KA- and variations like KE- or KER- are used to intensify the basic sound effect.
There is another A to Z onomatopoeia dictionary on www.writtensound.com Interesting about it is that anyone can send words or phrases to complete the list, which makes it easier for the website holder, a neuroscientist. His descriptions are intentionally short and restricted to sound meanings. Entries need to be based on at least two independent sources!
I found a blog too with a (shorter) list of onomatopoeias figuring in the French bd or 'bande dessinée', which means Franco-Belgian comics. Just an excerpt:
- AAAAAAH (scream of fear)
Rocko's Modern Life #1 (1994) © Marvel Comics
- AREU AREU (cry of human baby)
- ARGH or ARGHL (strangling)
- ARGN, AAAAARRH (anger)
- BADABOUM, BAM, BIM, BOM, BOUM, BANG, BRAOUM BAOUM (fall)
Olivier Blunder, alias Walter Melon, uses a lot of neologisms © Dargaud
- BAF ! (punch)
- BANG ! (gunshot)
- COA (frog)
- FLAP-FLAP (helicopter)
- GLA GLA (sensation of cold)
- GLOU GLOU (drinking, drown)
- GRUMPH (growling)
- HAN ! (physical effort)
- HUMPF (suffocation)
- KLON, KLONG, KLUNG (metallic blow)
Buck Danny - Vostok Antwoordt Niet Meer (2018) © Dupuis
- KLETT, KRRR (punch in a fight)
- KRASH (crashing of a plain or other machine)
- OUILLE ! (pain)
- PAF! (punch)
Astérix © Hachette ••• These Gaulish warriors are champions in fighting and its sounds
- PLOP (crown-cap that opens)
- PLIC, PLOC (water in the sink)
- PLONK (sound of an object inserting another)
- RAAAH (groan of pleasure or death)
- SMACK (kiss)
- TAGADA TAGADA TAGADA (horse running)
- TATACTATOUM (sound when sitting in train)
- VROOOOO/VROAAAR (humming)
Michel Vaillant © Dupuis
- WAOUH (admiration, amazement)
- WHAM (explosion)
Suske en Wiske - De Sonometer (2020) © Standaard Uitgeverij
The list is longer of course and interesting to read because it's not too extensive. Here in the French-Belgian sound vocabulary, the last word WHAM means an explosion. In Kevin Taylor's comic book dictionary we notice WHAM has multiple other significances.
ClanDestine - (1994 1st Series) #7 © Marvel Comics ••• THWIIIPP, SMAK, WUD, WAK, WAP are sounds of Spider-Man webbing
We sum up: the sound of a collision; the sound of an object hitting the ground; a hitting sound; the sound made by a slamming fist; the slamming sound of a body against a wall; a banging sound, as upon a door; the sound of a heavy gun being fired.
So where begins the sound word improvisation? Probably when these lists have been seen through... The rules might be more appropriate than I thought!
Dramatic peak
How inventive onomatopoeia usage in comic books is, stands out in the American Marvel Comics and DC Comics. The works that use them, often only do so when there is a peak in the dramaturgy of the storyline.
Iron Man Volume 1 #132 (1979) © Marvel Comics
A fight between Iron Man and The Hulk, between Spider-Man and Spider-woman or between The Hulk and Superman are drawn proof of that.
The Amazing Spider-Man - The Way Of The Spider (2011) © Marvel Comics
Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man (1981) © Marvel Comics - DC Comics
And more or less these are the sounds that are on Taylor's list.
Let's return to the theoretical approach in Busch's article.
"Punctuation, such as exclamation points, question marks or the frequently observed dot-dot-dot arrangement, has sound-specific connotations, such as volume, tempo, pitch and the pronunciation of onomatopoetic expressions", we can read further.
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (1930) © Moulinsart
"Onomatopoetic expressions such as SOB, MURMUR or CRASH come together with their semantic linguistic codes, while – because of lack of semantic meaning – onomatopoetic expressions such as IEEEEHHH, ARGH and YUCK are received more in terms of their graphic aspects and the distinct design of the succession of letters", it says.
"In comics we often observe different states of emotions simultaneously" - Lenja Busch, Dramaturg
The author sees it contrasting: "Letters are received as a linear chain, whereas the typesetting of onomatopoetic expressions is received simultaneously, embedded in the overall graphic structure. But fonts in comics cannot really become neutral, as fonts and graphic design are one essential aspect of the composition in this medium. Because comics aim for a synesthetic effect, they are viewed in their entirety (regarding graphics, graphic design, the use of color, use of written language, font...) and read sequentially. But within this linearity, the reader may perceive the very same character in two contrasting expressions of emotions on the same page: calm and angry, not crying and bursting out in tears... In comics we often observe different states of emotions simultaneously."
Natacha - Cauchemirage (1989) © Marsu ••• Notice the PLAKLONGBOGLONG 😂 sound word, nowhere on a list
Splointsj!
We can see over the mighty internet teachers are using onomatopoeia in their art, literature or language classes. In the past such lessons were dismissed by educators as superficial and shallow. Now it is even used to discuss moral, ethical, and social issues. Students get the chance to create their own comic books that include onomatopoeic language and brood over its effectiveness in each comic strip. Possibilities enough in the digital era to exercise this language. You can do what I did with Granny at the start. Did you notice? I've whitened her speech bubble and filled in my own version. In Dutch there had to be: "I can well imagine you want to play! But not NOW!" I kept it decent but you can make it as hilarious as you want... I'll give you another example of a simple exercise where I filled in empty text balloons:
I'm sure it will be difficult to track the original sounds down. Uncompiled or unregistered onomatopoeias are the most funny of course. These sounds depend upon the inventiveness of the illustrator as well as the writer. There might rather be less meaning or convention in them. Sometimes they use the weirdest of letter combinations, sometimes they're repeating different letters in quick succession.
You can also try an onomatopoeia game from your app store. Or make use of these cartoon/comics 'makers' with storyboard and text balloons. You don't even need to have drawing skills but it surely sharpens your creative skills!
---- Tweety and Sylvester ----
Tweety is a yellow canary and Sylvester a tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. Looney Tunes is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 to 1969. The term 'Looney Tunes' has since been expanded to also refer to all characters themselves among which Tweety, Sylvester the Cat and Granny.
Merrie Melodies, starting in 1931 and ending in 1969, was a partner series of Looney Tunes. Many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies films are ranked among the greatest animated cartoons of all time.
Sylvester the Cat appeared in 103 cartoons in the golden age of American animation. He debuted in 1939. Tweety appeared in 46 cartoons in the Looney Tunes' golden age. The canary made his first appearance in 1942 but was not paired with Sylvester until five years later. The 1947 cartoon 'Tweetie Pie' opposed them for the first time. The cartoon, which won an Academy Award, was the start of many short cartoons.
Tweety and Sylvester became a comic book series by Gold Key Comics from november 1963 through 1984. It ran 121 issues.
© Warner Bros Inc.
Remarkable is the name 'Tweety' - a play on words - which originally meant 'sweetie', along with TWEET being an English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds.
What's so special about this cartoon series is the paradox between cat and canary that is the basic storyline. The cat Sylvester chases Tweety the canary to eat him, what's his natural disposition, but Tweety's always smarter and quicker and gets away. But if the situation needs it, for example when vilains break in, they're household friends and then they bundle their powers.
Tom and Jerry © Hanna-Barbera
This reminds strongly of Tom and Jerry, the animated cartoon series by Looney Tunes' rivals Hanna-Barbera, originally running from 1940 until 1967. In the 1961-1962 period, Tom and Jerry even became the highest-grossing animated short film series, overtaking Looney Tunes. The plots resemble Tweety and Sylvester as each short usually centers on Tom's numerous attempts to capture Jerry and the mayhem and destruction resulting out of it. Tom Cat rarely succeeds in catching Jerry, mainly because of the mouse's cleverness. On several occasions however, they have displayed friendship and concern for each other. At times the pair even set aside their rivalry in order to pursue a common goal. Just as Tweety and Sylvester thus...
---- Sounds All Around ----
As we said, onomatopoeia differ from language to language. That is what fascinated and inspired PhD physics student James Chapman. Out of Manchester, UK, the young artist would search the Internet for various onomatopoeia before compiling them and illustrating them into attractive comics per language.
© James Chapman
His collection has turned already big, ranging from crying, drinking, thinking, eating, yawning, sneezing, heart beating, screaming, raining, frying, popping, brushing teeth, shutting up, toasting, the sound of a bird, owl, fox, frog, donkey, monkey, pig, cat, dog cockerel, elephant, pigeon, walking horse, cats purring, camera shutter, car horns, christmas bells, gun shots, explosions, sirens, phones, ghosts, engine, pain, happiness, amazement, relievement, something adorable, summertime splashing, clapping hands, applause, smashing, snoring, kissing, being surprised, being disgusted, making a mistake... It's a list I thought would never end. You can check it out on chapmangamo.tumblr.com Chapman bundled these comic sketches already in a book too, called Sounds All Around.
29.08.2022