Acoustic and mimic characteristics of laughter in the Buryat language

The paper deals with the Buryat ideophones which are used with a verb enēxe “to laugh.” They are divided on underived and derivative words which are also subdivided into onomatopoeic and sound-symbolic words. The aim of this research is to reveal the connection between acoustic-articulatory features of consonants of the stem and semantics of the considered words. The author puts forward the idea that mimic and body movements could be directly reflected by phoneticarticulatory means of language. On the basis of acoustic-articulatory characteristics, it is revealed that the stems ending on the consonant r designate throaty laugh, ending by the consonant g designate keckle and ending by the consonant n designate loud laugh. Vowel a is presented in the words imitating the strong, loud soundings; vowel o - in words, imitating distinct, clear soundings, vowel ü expresses deaf sounding. The long vowel refers to continuous action. Underived sound-symbolic words characterize movements of lips, face, and body muscles appearing while somebody laughs. The derivative onomatopoeic words which are used with a verb enēxe “to laugh” are formed by means of a suffix - sа . The description of the ideophonic lexis made it possible to expose semiotic, psychophysiological and linguistic foundations of the sound symbolic essence of the language.

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