Bang! “Ow!”

You probably have some idea of what just happened there. A collision or explosion of some kind, or perhaps a gunshot. Then someone voicing sharp pain, but probably not excruciating or fatal.

Now consider this: If we were speaking a language other than English, how would that sound?

The loud noise would be the same loud noise. But even if the noise was identical, the word used to represent the noise would not be the same everywhere.

We know what kind of noise “Bang!” represents: one with a sharp onset and some short reverb that often leaves a briefly lingering effect on the ears. It’s made by a normal-sized thing, smaller or less hollow than “Boom!” but bigger and not as hard as “Ping!” You might expect similarity in representation from language to language, with differences due only to the sound systems of the different languages. More.

See: The Week

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