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Expression of surprise in Esperanto

Lilymcph-tól, 2015. június 25.

Hozzászólások: 19

Nyelv: English

Lilymcph (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 25. 15:06:46

Is there a word in Esperanto to express surprise, like "wow" in English?

Tempodivalse (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 25. 16:31:57

Ho! (most common, generic interjection)
Vaux! (less common, but not unheard of)

Lilymcph (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 4:26:37

Thank you so much!

mbalicki (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 6:54:41

  • ha — astonishment or surprise — PMEG, PIV
  • oho — surprise — PMEG, PIV
  • aĥ — big surprise (or regret) — PMEG, PIV
  • ho — general meaning exclamation — PMEG

sudanglo (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 10:43:33

Wow! might be fairly international. So under rule 15 (admission of international words) Ŭaŭ!.

Why not ask in the Esperanto section in the forums for the meaning of 'ŭaŭ-sento', and see how many people understand that as meaning astonishment.

Found this is in a review in Monato.

Kiam, antaŭ kelkaj semajnoj, mi vidis la novan dikan Krause, mia unua impreso estis iu ŭaŭ-sento.

Also in the same review.

Ŭaŭ! Mil sescent sepdek naŭ paĝojn. Ŭaŭ! En ĉiu paĝo kvarcent ok kvadratcentimetrojn. Ŭaŭ! Bela bindo!

Also see Onomatopeoj_en_Esperanto (look under sentoj)

Temp, could find no instances of 'Vaŭ'. If you don't like the initial 'ŭ', you could use Uaŭ!

Kirilo81 (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 12:04:57

I think in onomatopoeia ŭ can occur in otherwise forbidden positions, cf. Zamenhofian kŭaks (of toads).
ŭaŭ of course is a perfect internationalism, in Polish I've once seen it written as łał.

yyaann (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 12:22:00

sudanglo:Wow! might be fairly international. So under rule 15 (admission of international words) Ŭaŭ!.
At least we have something very similar in France, with various spellings and pronunciations: "waou", "ouaou", "ouah","oua", "wa", "wow", etc.

In Spanish I've seen "wau" being used but with the "ŭ" sound not being common in initial position in Spanish, many people pronounce it like "gŭaŭ". Sometimes it's reflected in spelling since you do encounter "guau" as well. So it might be a good idea to ask people of various backgrounds (preferably in Esperanto) which alternative (ŭaŭ, uaŭ, vaŭ, ...) is easiest to them (if they actually consider it to be an issue, that is).

Altebrilas (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 16:15:57

Why "ŭ" is forbidden in first position? Is its name unpronounceable, (like the name of God in some religions)? What about "naŭa", "laŭiri" ? It easy to pronounce "laŭ-iri", sed "naŭ-a" is more difficult than "na-ŭa", because of the accent.

Now a lot of people around the world have learnt enough of english to be able to pronounce words beginning with "w". It was not the case at the time of Zamenhof. So this taboo has no longer any reason to exist: It will make one less exception in Esperanto.

Kirilo81 (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 17:32:25

Altebrilas:Why "ŭ" is forbidden in first position?
Because it is explicitly formulated in the Fundamento, which is still valid for all of us, that ŭ can appear only after vowels, forming a diphthong.
The only syllabification of naŭa vel sim. I've ever heart is naŭ-a.

mbalicki (Profil megtekintése) 2015. június 26. 22:55:03

Kirilo81:I think in onomatopoeia ŭ can occur in otherwise forbidden positions, cf. Zamenhofian kŭaks (of toads).
Yes, in onomatopœias it does occur, but “wow” isn't an onomatopœia at all. Exclamations are normal words and therefore I would argue, that one shall not use ŭ outside the syllables aŭ and eŭ.

And why use some other exclamation, since we already have ones sanctioned by the tradition? ridego.gif Exclamations and expressions of emotions are parts of the language, and since I accept it with all its benefits and flaws, therefore I also learn words like “ha”, “ho”, “ve”, “fi”, “nu”, “hoj” &c.

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