ONOMATOPOEIA

"Onomatopoeia means the "name" given to a sound. It's a word imitation of noise."
ex : "Bong, a bell sound"

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeic words are words which resemble the sound they refer to; for example words to describe animal sounds generally imitate the sounds themselves.  These words, also known as imitative and echoic words, are used by poets, comic-strip writers and authors of children's books among others.  Here is a partial list of onomatopoeic words.

bang beep burp chirp clash crunch drip grunt hiccup hoot knock

plop quack rattle sizzle stomp thud toot varoom whack whir zap zoom

Perhaps more interesting is that onomatopoeic words exist in all languages.  The most entertaining examples are the words used to describe the sounds that animals make.  For example, in English, horses neigh or whinny, however in Norwegian theyknegger and in Portuguese they relincha.  In English the rooster says "cock a doodle do," and in Chinese "gou gou," and in Thai, "ake-e-ake-ake.

Descriptive words that sound like an action or noise when spoken out loud, create the effect of onomatopoeia. For instance, the word to describe water falling in small portions from a tap is called a drip - drip, drip, drip. Poets tend to have a natural talent for using onomatopoeia words, but they can be effective in fiction as well, especially if you're writing for a younger reader.




These sound words are simply another way of showing instead of telling.

Imagine writing about a bad guy pointing a gun at his intended victim - instead of saying he shoots its, the simple word. 'BANG' lets the reader know what's going on and can make them feel like they are there.

Onomatopoeia in jokes

Onomatopoeia can be used as a linguistic device in many types of writings including jokes. Do you remember the old Knock-Knock jokes, even the name of this type of joke is another example of onomatopoeia.

What about the joke:
Knock-knock Who's there?
Boo
Boo who?
Don't cry, I was only joking

nursery rhymes

Examples of onomatopoeia are also commonly found in poems and nursery rhymes written for children. Onomatopoeic words produce strong images that can both delight and amuse kids when listening to their parents read poetry. Some examples of onomatopoeia poems for children are:

Baa Baa Black Sheep
Old Macdonald

Both of these poems use onomatopoeic representations of animal noises to entertain. There are many other examples of onomatopoeia found in kid's poetry, see if you can hear them next time you listen to a nursery rhyme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sounds