Entropy · 2010 · 86 citations · 9 references
Language StudiesLinguisticsComparative LinguisticsHistorical LinguisticsSemanticsComparative PhonologyComparative SemanticsFigurative LanguageLanguage ChangePhonological RepresentationSymbolismBasic Vocabulary ComparisonCross-linguistic PhoneticsLanguage EvolutionLinguistic SymbolismSound - Symbol CorrespondenceSound-symbol Correspondence
Languages are largely arbitrary, yet they exhibit sound‑symbolic effects that are mainly anecdotal, making cross‑linguistic study essential for understanding language evolution. The study introduces a systematic approach to investigate sound symbolism. The authors analyze basic vocabulary from almost half of the world’s languages to identify common sound‑shape patterns for semantically similar words. They find consistent sound‑shape commonalities across languages, which they interpret as evidence of sound symbolism.
The relationship between meanings of words and their sound shapes is to a large extent arbitrary, but it is well known that languages exhibit sound symbolism effects violating arbitrariness. Evidence for sound symbolism is typically anecdotal, however. Here we present a systematic approach. Using a selection of basic vocabulary in nearly one half of the world’s languages we find commonalities among sound shapes for words referring to same concepts. These are interpreted as due to sound symbolism. Studying the effects of sound symbolism cross-linguistically is of key importance for the understanding of language evolution.
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Assessing similarity between profiles.
Lee J. Cronbach, Goldine C. Gleser · Psychological Bulletin · 1953 · 1.2K citations
Explorations in automated language classification
Eric W. Holman, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown et al. · Folia Linguistica · 2008 · 299 citations