Sound words & sound symbolism

Frequentative verbs and sound symbolism

• Dutch is rich in klanknabootsingen: sounds become verbs: sissen (hiss), zoemen (buzz), gonzen (hum, drone), knarsen (grind, creak).
• The endings -elen and -eren often signal a repeated, small sound or movement (frequentatives): ritselen (rustle), druppelen (drip), kletteren (clatter), knetteren (crackle), kabbelen (babble, of water), trappelen (stamp one's feet).
• Sound symbolism: i tends to suggest smallness and high pitch (piepklein, iel, piepen), dark vowels size and depth (bonzen, rommelen, dreunen). Initial kn-/kl- often goes with sharp sounds (knallen, knappen, klappen), gl- with light and sliding (glimmen, glanzen, glijden).
• Reduplication with a vowel change (tiktak, pingpong, zigzag) or a consonant change (hotsebotsen). In narrative, a bare sound word can stand alone: Plons! Daar lag hij in de sloot.
• Past tense follows the usual rules: plonzen → plonsde (the underlying z takes -de), sissen → siste, rommelen → rommelde.