Sound Symbolism in Riddles
Sound symbolism in riddles may provide the association between concrete situations; in a riddle such as uufaani /ítl ‘the uufaani shrub does /itl’. There are a few possible solutions. The first is: the fart of a newly wed woman who is temporarily back with their parents, the second: old men running, the third: a running pig, and lastly: the death of young men. The ideophone /ítl or /irítl refers to an uncontrolled force and ufani is a kind of shrub whose roots are cut when it is uprooted forcefully. The associations that link all the solutions to the riddle are along the lines of “sudden” and “heavy”. The fart is heavy because of the fact that the newly wed women are spoiled in this period when they return home briefly; thus they eat a lot of beans. A pig runs without clear direction and an old man runs with unexpected movements. The death of young men is a big and sudden shock. The association is along multiple lines, not only suddenness or only heaviness.
Some riddles consists of ideophones only, like pá/ peerango ‘bang prrrr prrr’, to which the solution is “the sling”. Pá/ is an ideophone for a sudden slap, a sudden departure or silence. In this riddle the ideophone refers to the stone leaving from the sling. Peerango is an ideophone for confusion, in this riddle, that of the birds the stone was aimed at.
Several riddles veil their keys through sound symbolism of both movement and glitter. One example is ‘the eye of Kalankalay’. Kalankalay (or galangalay) is an ideophone for something colourful with various bright colours, or to something swaying. The solution is ‘the skirt of a young woman’. When a girl leaves the initiation period she is called deena, and she wears a nice skirt with colourful beads. She is supposed to show her beauty to everybody and the skirt swings when she walks. The association is through both movement and glitter. In the pictures below you can see what these skirts look like in present day.
