The Project is aimed at filling in a gap in linguistic research that concerns the place and nature of onomatopoeia in the system of language. While the existence of onomatopoeia in languages of the world has not been called into question its comprehension varies in different linguistic traditions and theoretical frameworks. Moreover, there is no typological work comparing the behaviour of onomatopoeia at individual levels of the language system. Interestingly, while linguists differ in their approach to onomatopoeia they share the view of its uniqueness. However, this view is rarely supported by empirical data. The Project, therefore, pursues the objective of comparing various theoretical approaches to onomatopoeia and of defining a unified approach applicable to onomatopoeia of various languages.

We work with a sample of onomatopoeia from more than 70 languages of the world. The data are collected using data sheets (information sheet of theoretical principles and information sheet of onomatopoeia). They will be analyzed in terms of three language levels, the phonological, word-formation, and semantic levels, to confirm or reject the hypothesis of the unique nature of onomatopoeia relative to the major, non-iconic part of the vocabulary. The data will be evaluated on the basis of the principles of linguistic typology. The results and onomatopoeia descriptions will be presented in a Handbook of Onomatopoeia.