From Birds to Words: Onomatopoeia, Metaphor, and the Language of Birdsong

Professor Bodo Winter's Inaugural Lecture

Sensory words bridge the gap between perception and language, helping us to express what we see, hear, feel, taste and smell. Yet, some sensory experiences are easier to articulate than others—consider the abundance of English adjectives for sight, such as “blue”, “shiny”, “blurred”, and many more, compared to the relative scarcity of adjectives for smell, such as “fragrant” and “musky”. To overcome these gaps, people turn to creative strategies like sound imitation and metaphor.

In this talk, Professor Winter examines a unique corpus of bird field guides to show how these strategies combine to convey the intricate qualities of birdsong. This sheds light on how new words emerge and become conventionalized to expand the expressive power of language.

There will be British Sign Language interpreters at the lecture.

Inaugural lectures are a landmark in academic life, held on the appointment of new professorships. Join us to learn more about the work of Professor Bodo Winter. You can learn more about our other forthcoming talks and view our archive of previous lectures on our CAL Inaugural Lectures webpage.