Dictionary of grunts?

Since Rufus says it's OK, here's the link:

http://writtensound.com/index.php?term=human

quicklime said:

they will sound odd if you have whole pages of "ungh?" "Gah." "OOOh, ungh..." because it's painful and doesn't tell us anything useful.

Try a new spelling each time, and it will be just as painful, and look like you have commitment issues.

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The next depends on how educated the characters are (perhaps some have a better vocabulary that others?). Perhaps each character could have a "signature phrase" instead of coming up with new synonyms every time they speak or a common vocabulary sounding like grunts, but with specific meaning: "unh = yes, neh = no, don' = I don't know", etc. Of course, it would help if there were little clues about what the words mean, such as:

"Unh", he grunted in the affirmative (hoaky?)

... or whatever would make more sense in your context.

Cornelius Gault said:

"Unh", he grunted in the affirmative

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So here is a good test. Take out the phonetic sound to see if it really adds anything to the passage. In the above case,

He grunted in the affirmative.

works quite well, and the "Unh" part adds absolutely nothing but a strange non-word. My editor's pen would red-line that immediately. It's redundant in this case to have him grunt and then tell the reader he grunted the grunt.

Cornelius Gault said:

The next depends on how educated the characters are (perhaps some have a better vocabulary that others?). Perhaps each character could have a "signature phrase" instead of coming up with new synonyms every time they speak or a common vocabulary sounding like grunts, but with specific meaning: "unh = yes, neh = no, don' = I don't know", etc. Of course, it would help if there were little clues about what the words mean, such as:

"Unh", he grunted in the affirmative (hoaky?)

... or whatever would make more sense in your context.

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I think that would make a bigger mess.

To the OP, i get what you want, "authenticity," but authenticity in writing is an illusion, which is why the heroine never stops to take a piss, or farts discreetly, and the handsome, rugged CIA op is never caught stratching his sweaty junk. It is also why dialogue is not a line-by-line transcript of how people really talk. Go read Huck Finn; there's been several discussions here about if Twain could publish now, and honestly, I doubt he could. But regardless, read it--it is a great story, but painful, especially until you're 40 pages in "an' settled down to the fact they sho' do be talkin funny in them passages....."

You may want to google the definition of the word onomatopoeia it could give you some ideas...

Also, don't forget about words like:

Guffaw
Blustered
Hissed
Snarled
Roared
Grumbled... etc. the list of those goes on and on, it's not exactly something you put in quotations but instead of "Ugg," he grunted. You could say, "so and so snarled ineffectually in the attempt to articulate a deeper thought." (As a for instance.)

Cornelius Gault said:

"Unh", he grunted in the affirmative (hoaky?)

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Redundant. Just say he grunted.

This is one of those examples where in my very-personal opinion, "just tell" is a fantastic idea. I agree with quicklime. A page, even one page filled with "Ugh," "Ahh," "Argh" or whatever it is your characters are doing, can become pretty irksome pretty quickly. I would close the book and throw it across the room. Hard. Just say, "She cooed," "He grunted," "She wailed", etc. Makes it a lot easier and less annoying. But then again that's my take.

My ex brother-in-law is a linguist with a doctorate in African Languages and Dialects. He can go on and on about the subtleties of the Xhosa language, which is primarily clicking sounds.
I suppose grunts and groans could form a language, or at least dialect.

This thread just makes me laugh xD

I don't think you'll ever find a "dictionary" of grunt sounds in word form, but there's nothing wrong with placing a "Gah!" or "Unh!" or even "Err..."

That said, I find describing the noise in a simile or the like to be... more sophisticated and professional, in a matter of speaking. However, there's absolutely nothing wrong with grunt 'noises' in word form especially when describing some sort of brute.

NeuroFizz said:

...and orgasms should be written as, "ung, ung, ung, ung, uuuunnnng, gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh." Or something similar.

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Oh, man. I missed that one. That's why the sex scenes are so flat.