Imagery Echoes: An analysis of onomatopoeia in Bengali and Japanese visual narratives

An increasing curiosity in communication through visual narratives has been observed in recent years in multidisciplinary research. This paper seeks to explore the role of onomatopoeia or ideophones in visual narratives, focusing on the Bengali comics, ‘Hada Bhoda’ and the Japanese manga, ‘Doraemon’. Onomatopoeic words can serve both as a linguistic and visual tool to enhance visual storytelling by representing different actions, emotions and atmospheres. By using a qualitative content analysis method, this study analyses how sound-symbolic expressions are integrated into picture stories to reflect cultural nuances. The study also examines the performative functions through the multisensory functions of ideophones. This cross-linguistic analysis offers significant implications for communication, media and education.