hyaw

Pronunciation[hʲaw]
Variantshyuw1
Definition‘sound of a pit viper trying to deceive a rodent’
Sensory ModalityCognition
SOUND
Paralinguistic
Description
Uttered with a high-pitched, plaintive pronunciation
Transcriptionɲa hʲaw hʲaw hʲaw hʲaw niɾa punʥana ɕina
Translation‘Then it (a snake) said hjaw hjaw hjaw hjaw (sounding)like an agouti’
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Transcriptionkasna ʎukɕitɕiɕaga hʲaw hʲaw hʲaw hʲaw
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Transcriptionɲukanchi kaj sachaj sacha purisha, sikugunara na kallari rukuguna ushanushka pajguna sikuraa kayachinga hʲaw hʲaw hʲaw hʲaw nishka siku chibi mas shu sikugunas paywapura manchi nisha shamunushka mas ishki o kinsa, karanpuramanda shamunushka. Kasnami nishka silbanga rawni (whistles)
Translation So when we are walking in the forest, well the oldtimers, being able, they would attract agoutis by calling (how they sound) going hyaw hyaw hyaw hyaw; and the agoutis thinking 'that's one of us' would come. So like that (the way they called them), I'm going to whistle'
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Commentary

Anecdotal reports of boas ‘crying’ exist. See report by an American attorney living in Amazonian Peru near Iquitos, about an experience of hearing a boa constrictor which he had purchased to rid his farm of rats, making “a high-pitched whine”, which he also described as “plaintive, longing, verging on panic, or seeking help”. (See “The Snake That Cried”, a post by David Peterson.)

Nuckolls, Janis; Tod Swanson; Alexander Rice. 2024. hyaw. The Quechua Ideophonic Dictionary. Online: https://quechuarealwords.byu.edu/?ideophone=hyaw.

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