Project Iconicity Atlas atlas.com Universal vs. Language

Iconicity Atlas

ICONICITY ATLASProject

An interactive multi-lingual comparative dictionary of iconic(imitative, onomatopoeic, sound symbolic) words

Universal vs. Language Specific:Iconicity across Languages

Natalia NolandHouston Community College

[email protected]

Maria FlaksmanSt. Petersburg State

Electrotechnical University ‘LETI’

[email protected]

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Iconicity Atlas

ICONICITY ATLASAn interactive multi-lingual comparative dictionary of iconic

(imitative, onomatopoeic, sound symbolic) words

ILL-12 , Lund 2019 Noland N.N., Flaksman M.A.

Iconicity seems to be an inherent quality of any human language

existing on this planet.

However….

Iconic words do not show 100% similarity across languages, and

this creates reasonable doubts about the universality of sound

symbolic and onomatopoeic words.Rus.

хрум-хрум (hrum-hrum)гав-гав (gav-gav)шуршать (shurshati)

Eng.crunchbow-wowrustle

Viet. giòn, cúi chào, tiếng xào xạt

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1) the difference in phonemic inventories and phonotactic rules of the languages;

2) the multiple-choice motivation and nomination laws;

3) different stages of de-iconization of iconic words.

The major factors contributing to the seemingdissimilarity of imitative words are:

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THE METHOD OF PHONOSEMANTIC ANALYSIS (S.V. Voronin , 1982)

I. Semantics

II. Special iconic traits (excessive

expressivity, hyper-variability,

reduplication, iconic ablaut,

metathesis etc. )

III. Etymology

IV. Typology

V. Search of nomination motif

VI Summa sumarum

The idea of the project

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Pilot Study 2015Flaksman, M., Noland, N. (2015): Iconicity Atlas Project: Approaching typologicalcomparison of word’s imitative lexicons. In: Proceedings of the ХLIV InternationalLinguistic Conference. University of St. Petersburg, March 10-15, 2015. P. 111-112.

SNORT/SNORE

SNEEZE

LICK

SPIT

SMACK

CHAMP/MUNCH

LAUGH/GAFFAW

LAUGH/GIGGLE

YAWN

CHOKE

WHINE

HICCUP

COUGH

BURP

GRUMP

The questionnaire contained 15 concepts:

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Pilot Study 2015

Concept LICK:

Yoruba dialect – la

Spanish – lamer

Arabic – (laaka) ”عقي ل“

Russian – лизать (lizati)

Vietnamese liếm (lim)

English – lick

Example 1

Yoruba – hanrun

Spanish – roncar

Arabic – شخیر (shakhir)

Russian – храпеть (khrapeti)

Mongolian – хурхирах

Vietnamese – ngáy

English - snore

Pilot Study 2015

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Concept SNORE:Example 2

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Web-Page structureIconicity Atlas

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ICONIC CONCEPTS

LANGUAGES

WHAT IS ICONICITY

HOW TO USE THIS ATLAS

ABOUT US

NEWS

CONTACT US

HELP THE PROJECT

Web-Page structure

Dr Alice Kleeva

Web developer and designer

http://www.iconicity-atlas.com/concepts/pages/chew.htm


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Principles of Data Selection and RepresentationSwadesh list

Onomatopoeic Words Sound Symbolic Words

Instants - 6 (TAP)

Continuants – 14 (BEEP, HUSH)

Frequentatives – 2 (ROAR)

Instants-Continuants – 9 (FLOP)

Frequentatives-Instants-Continuants – 16 (RUSTLE)

+ animal sounds - 15 (MEW)

Intra-kinesemisms – 34 (SNEEZE)Extra-kinesemisms – 4 (BUBBLE)

(S.V. Voronin , 1982)

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Iconic Concepts

1. BANG2. BARK3. BEEP4. BITE5. BLEAT6. BLOW 7. BOOM8. BUBBLE9. BUZZ10. CHEW11. CHIRP12. CHOKE13. CHOP14. CLAP15. CLASH16. CLICK17. CLUCK18. COCK-A-

DOODLE19. COO20. COUGH

21. CRACK22. CRASH23. CREAK24. CROACK25. CUCKOO26. DING27. DROP28. DRUM29. FIE30. FLOP31. FLUSH32. GAGGLE33. GNAW34. GOBBLE35. GROAN36. GROWL37. GURGLE38. HICCUP39. HISS40. HIT41. HOOT

42. HOWL43. HUM44. HUSH45. JABBER46. JERK47. KISS48. KNOCK49. LAUGH50. LICK51. MEW52. MOAN53. MOO54. MURMUR55. NEIGH56. OINK57. PEEP58. POP59. PURL60. QUACK61. RATTLE62. RIBBIT

63. RING64. RIP65. ROAR66. RUB67. RUMBLE68. RUSTLE69. SCRATCH70. SCREAM71. SHOUT72. SHUFFLE73. SIGH74. SIZZLE75. SLAP76. SNEEZE77. SNIFF78. SNORE79. SNORT80. SPIT81. SPLASH82. STAMMER83. STAMP

84. SUCK85. SWALLOW86. TAP87. THUMP88. THUNDER89. TICKLE90. TOOT91. TREMBLE92. VOMIT93. VROOM94. WEEP95. WHEEZE96. WHISPER97. WHISTLE98. WHOOSH99. YAWN100.YELP

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Questionnaire

3. BEEP How do you imitate a short,relatively high-pitched toneproduced by a horn, electronicdevice, or the like as a signal,summons, or warning? How do youname such sound(s)? How do youname the action of producing suchsound(s)?

int.n.v.

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SAMPLE ENTRY



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SAMPLE ENTRY

part of speech

word

transcription

audio

commentary (with

dictionary reference

and structural model)

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Universal vs. Language Specific

I. The difference in phonemic inventories and phonotactic rules of the languages

different inventories

allowed sound combinations and syllable structure

(phonotactics)

length of vowels and consonants

tone

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Universal vs. Language Specific

II. The multiple-choice motivation and nomination laws

More than one motif (comprising more than one salientfeature of one and the same referent) may serve as basisfor coining more than one sign naming one and the samereferent (Voronin 2005: 73)

E. spit, Sp. escupir, Arab. basq, Mongol. nulimah,

Yoruba tu ito, Viet. khạc nhổ, Russ. plevat' [plʲɪˈvatʲ],

kharcat' [ˈxarkətʲ].

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Concept CHEW (4 motifs of nomination)

1. Engl. om-nom-nom, yum-yum; Cro. njam, njiam-njam;Rus. ням ням (njam-njam); Sp. ñam ñam, Viet. nhai,nhai nhóp nhép, nhấm nháp

2. Engl. cham/champ/ chomp, munch; Sp. masticar

3. Engl. chew/chaw; Cro. zvakati, Slo. zut’,zuvat’; Rus.чавкать, жевать; Pol. żuć, przeżuwać, Ice. Tyggja(Proto I-E base *ǵyewh- dorsal palatal voiced *ǵ, labial w and h₁neutral laryngeal)

4. Engl. crunch, Slovak chrum, chramst, hrýzť, Rusхрумкать (khrumkati)

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III. Different stages of de-iconization of iconic wordsDe-iconization is the gradual loss of iconicity caused by parallelacting of regular sound changes and regular sense development ofthe word (Flaksman 2015)

Method of diachronic evaluation of iconic lexicon(Flaksman 2015)

establishing the regular sound changes a word has undergone andwhether these sound changes were phonosemantically significant; establishing semantic shifts the word has undergone and whether itstill retains its original (sound-related) meaning; establishing the word’s degree of phonetic , morphological, andsyntactic integration

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Russ. hohotat’ [xəxɐˈtatʲ] (SD-2)

E. laugh [la:f] (SD-3) OE hlehhan (SD-2).

Stages of de-iconization

Examples: SD-1 bzz! zzz! tlok-tlok; SD-2 buzz, screech; SD-3a laugh, SD-3b cliché ; SD-4 gargoyle, butter

SD-1 SD-2 SD-3a SD-3b SD-4integration - + + + +phonosemantically significant regular sound changes

- - + - +

considerable semantic shifts - - - + +

Only words on the same de-iconization stage can be adequately compared!

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Conclusions

Iconicity Atlas shows the underlying universality of iconic coinagedespite the difficulties created both on synchronic and diachroniclevels of languages’ existence.

Even though eachlanguage is specific,the processes andlaws that governiconic coinage seemuniversal.

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Take part in the project

Acknowledgements

Lee Andrew Matthews

Matthew Jones

Karolina Kliś

VanjaVersic

Guðný Ýr

Ján Zat‘ko

Carlos Romero

Iconicity Atlas project team expresses their thanks to:

http://www.iconicity-atlas.com/menu/help.htm

Iconicity Atlas

www.iconicity-atlas.com

ILL-

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!


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Project Iconicity Atlas atlas.com Universal vs. Language