Echoes of the past
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Maria Flaksman
Abstract
Old English texts preserve a number of imitative words which give an intriguing insight into the sphere of sound-denotation of this ancient language. The study of Anglo-Saxon texts, however, reveals that many onomatopoeic words used there are non-existent in the Present-Day English. In this paper I argue that more than a half of these imitative lexemes have become extinct or have been replaced in the course of the following 1000-year history of the English language, and that such replacement was, at least partly, predetermined by the very nature of the imitative words. This study has been conducted using both poetic texts and etymological dictionaries.
Abstract
Old English texts preserve a number of imitative words which give an intriguing insight into the sphere of sound-denotation of this ancient language. The study of Anglo-Saxon texts, however, reveals that many onomatopoeic words used there are non-existent in the Present-Day English. In this paper I argue that more than a half of these imitative lexemes have become extinct or have been replaced in the course of the following 1000-year history of the English language, and that such replacement was, at least partly, predetermined by the very nature of the imitative words. This study has been conducted using both poetic texts and etymological dictionaries.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. General framework
- The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
- The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
- Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
- Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
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Part II. Symmetry
- Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
- Chiastic iconicity 103
- Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
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Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
- Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
- Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
- This is not a pipe 193
- Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
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Part IV. Gesture and sign language
- Iconicity in gesture 245
- Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
- Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
-
Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
- Echoes of the past 331
- The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
- The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
- The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
- Author index 405
- Subject index 407
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. General framework
- The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
- The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
- Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
- Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
-
Part II. Symmetry
- Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
- Chiastic iconicity 103
- Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
-
Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
- Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
- Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
- This is not a pipe 193
- Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
-
Part IV. Gesture and sign language
- Iconicity in gesture 245
- Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
- Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
-
Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
- Echoes of the past 331
- The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
- The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
- The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
- Author index 405
- Subject index 407
