Look at that Sound!—Visual Representation of Sound in Indian Comics

Sound is an invisible and intangible effect found in nature which is conveyed in different techniques in different media (films, novels etc.). Sound Symbolic Words or SSW are known as comprising of word categories that resemble or convey sound (audible as well as inaudible). As printed comic books have to rely on visual perception to create the sound inside the reader’s mind, thus along with perception ability of the reader, her cultural exposure is also necessary in order to decode the meaning of the SSW. This poses a challenge to the designer to create words that signify the nature of the sound being represented. To create a visual representation of the sound it is essential to understand the syntactical structure of the words. Already the syntax of the SSW has been defined in earlier study [1], this paper aims to establish its relation with the meaning of the word. The SSW were categorized based on the semantic variables studied from a corpus of 40 titles and 1401 SSW. The results can be utilized by any designer to create SSW based on a given context.