Ideophones in Hausa

Abstract

The following presentation is based on a database of 243 ideophones taken from various dictionaries and sources. It should be stressed that generally the use of ideophones in Hausa is very common. They will be analysed morphologically and syntactically, trying also to categorise them according to their phonetics and semantics. As observed by Newman (2000: 242): “Ideophones have a much more significant role in the language than do English onomatopoeic words, with which they should not be compared”