11 Another study having much to contribute to this research is an empirical
research of sound symbolism conducted by Susan Janeen Parault in 2002. Her research, entitled “Sound Symbolism: A Possible Piece in the Puzzle of Word
Learning ”, scrutinized to what extent the capability of sound symbolism could
assist adult participants in vocabulary learning. To measure how far sound symbolic words might affect the adult participants‟ comprehension of word
knowledge, Parault conducted five studies consisting of two major purposes. The first purpose employing four studies was for finding the effects of sound
symbolism within words presented in isolation, whereas another purpose employing one study was for the effects of sound symbolism within words
embedded in context. She provided a set of unfamiliar English words presented in the guess phase and the recognition phase to test the participants. Her research
indicated positive results. The first four studies showed the usefulness of sound symbolism within words to assist the participants to choose the right definition of
the tested words presented in isolation. Similarly, the fifth study suggested the benefit of using context in sound symbolic words for vocabulary learning.
Ev en though this research was also inspired by Parault‟s research yet there
were a set of features making it different from the former research conducted by Parault 2002. First, this research concentrated on children literature, namely
lullabies and play s ongs. Unlike Parault‟s research concerning adult participants,
this research took literature related to children as its subject. Besides, this research was based on library study, which means it did not involve humans as its direct
participants. Therefore, it only analyzed sound symbolic words found in a number
12 of lullabies and play songs taken from the internet, and did not need to conduct
any experiments as Parault‟s did.
B. Theoretical Description
The central issues exposed in this section are theories of sound symbolism and English children songs, specifically lullabies and play songs. The section of
sound symbolism theory expounds its four categories which will be employed in data analysis. Then, the section of English children songs clarifies the
characteristics and functions of lullabies and play songs.
1. English Children Songs
According to Kennedy 1994, the description of song is „the natural
human means of musical self-expression ‟ as cited in Trehub Trainor, 1998, p.
44. In other words, songs serve as media for humans to express whatever they feel or think about on melody.
Since there are a lot of humans‟ expressions, the functions of songs also vary, based on their contexts. In their article, Trehub and
Trainor 1998 utter that there are various contexts encouraging humans to sing songs, namely “child care, ceremonial events, religious gatherings, and private,
self- care activities” p. 45. In addition, they mention the examples of songs
functioning as child care are lullabies and play songs. The characteristics of lullabies and play songs are elaborated as follows.
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a. Lullabies
Lullabies are songs whose function is to calm baby or encourage them to sleep, as stated by Trehub and Trainor 1998, p. 49. Moreover, Pantaleoni 1985
and Zuckerkandl 1973 articulated that lullabies also can “enhance the
relationship between adult performer and child audience” as cited in Trehub Trainor, 1998, p. 49. It means that lullabies played a significant
role in children‟s life. A children song might be considered as a lullaby when it has the
characteristics of lullabies. They are „simple, soothing, rhythmic, and repetitive‟
Cass-Beggs Cass-Beggs, 1969, as cited in Lavoie, 2010, p. 2.
b. Play Songs
Unlike lullabies, play songs own a different purpose, which is „to amuse
the child when he is awake by lifting him up in the arms, playing with his fingers and palms, tickling him, moving his hands and feet, teaching basic body
movements ‟, according to Suliteanu 1979, as cited in Trehub Trainor, 1998, p.
53. In other words, play songs invite children to actively participate in singing as well as to entertain them. The features of play songs can be easily known by the
“lively and exuberant performances” within the songs, “sound play of various types including rhyme, alliteration, and repetition” Trehub Trainor, 1998, p.
53. Still based on Trehub and Trainor, play songs sometimes also contain “alphabet and counting routines”. In brief, play songs are a type of songs whose
features encourage children to be active and expressive.
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2. Sound Symbolism
The definition of sound symbolism proposed by Hinton et al. 1994 has been cited many times by scholars worldwide as the basis of their research.
Similarly, this research is based on the same definition, which says that “sound
symbolism is the direct linkage between sound and meaning” p. 1. Sound symbolism is classified into four categories, namely corporeal sound symbolism,
imitative sound symbolism, synesthetic sound symbolism, and conventional sound symbolism Hinton et al., 1994. The elaboration of each category is ordered
based on the “degree of direct linkage between sound and meaning” as follows.
a. Corporeal sound symbolism
This sound symbolism category serves to represent the condition of the speaker‟s emotions or body Hinton et al., 1994, p. 2. The features of this
category are the involvement of “involuntary, „symptomatic‟ sounds such as coughing or hiccupping, and ranges through expressive intonation, expressive
voice quality, and interjections ”, according to Hinton et al. 1994, p. 2. The
examples of sound symbolic words in this category are Aaugh and Achoo, which can be found in comics or similar literature Hinton et al., 1994, p. 2.
b. Imitative sound symbolism
Imitative sound symbolism is related to “onomatopoeic words or phrases
representing environmental sounds” Hinton et al., 1994, p. 3. Similar to its name, the function of this category is basically to imitate various sounds in the
environment such as sounds made by animals and other inanimate objects. Besides, it also represents repeated movements with or without producing sounds.
