Sound Symbolism in the Lexicon: A Review of Iconic‐Systematicity.

Sound symbolism refers to associations between language sounds (i.e., phonemes) and particular properties (e.g., certain shapes). For example, phonemes like /m/ are associated with roundness, while phonemes like /k/ are associated with spikiness. In this paper I review the accumulating evidence that...

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Publicado en:Language & Linguistics Compass Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10
Autor principal: Sidhu, David M.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Jan/Feb2025
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Sound Symbolism in the Lexicon: A Review of Iconic‐Systematicity.
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        au: Sidhu, David M.
        affil: Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
      su:
        Sound symbolism
        Iconicity (Linguistics)
        Phoneme (Linguistics)
        Pattern perception
        Discourse analysis
        Hypothesis
        Lexicon
      sug:
        subj:
          Sound symbolism
          Iconicity (Linguistics)
          Phoneme (Linguistics)
          Pattern perception
          Discourse analysis
          Hypothesis
          Lexicon
      keyword:
        bouba/kiki effect
        iconic‐systematicity
        iconicity
        language evolution
        maluma takete effect
        mil/mal effect
        non‐arbitrariness
        sound symbolism
        systematicity
      ab: Sound symbolism refers to associations between language sounds (i.e., phonemes) and particular properties (e.g., certain shapes). For example, phonemes like /m/ are associated with roundness, while phonemes like /k/ are associated with spikiness. In this paper I review the accumulating evidence that different instances of sound symbolism can be observed as patterns in real words in existing lexicons (e.g., /m/ occurring more frequently in words for round things). The properties examined include shape, size, texture, valence and arousal. Such effects are an instance of both iconicity (words whose forms resemble their meanings) and systematicity (largescale patterns in the forms of related words in a language). I also discuss open questions on the topic, including how such patterns emerge, and their effects on language processing.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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