Hypernym for "bark", "meow", "roar"
Is there a hypernym for animal noises like "bark", "meow", "roar", et cetera?
Wikipedia calls them animal sounds.
Or simply sounds, as in:
Lion sounds include snarling, hissing, coughing, miaowing, woofing, and roaring. (Wikipedia)
The wikipedia article states that "a majority of them are onomatopoeia" (= not all of them are).
Josh's suggestion cry has merit
- The loud characteristic call of a bird or other animal
Imagining their hoots to be the cry of some dangerous animal, she had spent nearly two terrified days on the run from her rescuers.
The example clearly uses the word as a hypernym.
The technical term I have heard is vocalize - making a noise with their mouth. This applies to an owl's hooting, a cow's moo, and so on. This wouldn't cover crickets, I suppose, but then nor does "cry".
Animal noises are onomatopoeic.
onomatopoeia
- the formation of a word such as "cuckoo", "meow", "honk" or "boom" by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent
- A word so formed
Source: Dictionary.com
Another good word might be animal "calls", but those are often what animals use to communicate with each other, such as bird calls. It may not include all animal vocalizations you intend it to cover.
Some professionals refer to the sounds an animal makes as "vocalizations", perhaps to avoid the anthropomorphic terms pet owners and animal lovers tend to use. However, it's a bit stiff and fussy for most uses.
For scholarly examples, see http://www.unc.edu/~rhwiley/wildspectra/info/sounds.html http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations/AAI3172488/