ABSTRACT

This article investigates the calls of birds (vocalisation) and the way these are put into words (verbalised), mainly in English, but with some reference to Afrikaans and Zulu. The emphasis is on how the authors of bird guides for bird watchers render the calls of different species as an aid to identification. Distinctions are made between descriptive strategies, which may include the use of metaphor and simile, and imitative strategies, which are subdivided into partial verbalisation and full verbalisation. The article then looks at how these strategies are used in the formation of bird names, themselves another way of verbalising bird calls. The article concludes that in the verbalising of bird vocalisation, at least two interlocking linguistic processes are taking place, one being the conversion of bird “language” into human language; another being the rendering of sound as writing. A third process is onymisation, the turning of words and phrases into names.

摘要

本文研究鸟类的叫声（发声）以及将它们变成单词的方式（以语言表达），主要使用英语，但同时也提及南非荷兰语和祖鲁语。重点是观鸟者鸟类指南的作者如何呈现不同物种的呼唤以帮助识别。描述性策略之间有区别，可能包括使用隐喻和明喻以及模仿性策略，分为部分语言化和完全语言化。然后，文章探讨了如何在鸟名的形成中使用这些策略，这本身就是动词鸟叫的另一种方式。文章的结论是，在鸟的发声中，至少发生了两个相互关联的语言过程，一个是鸟的“语言”转换为人类语言。另一个是声音的书写。第三个过程是匿名化，即将单词和短语转换为名称。