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Spoken Language Iconicity: an Articulatory-Based Analysis of 66 Languages

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Spoken Language Iconicity: an Articulatory-Based Analysis of 66 Languages 國 立 交 通 大 學 外國語文學系暨外國文學與語言學碩士班 碩 士 論 文 口語象似性: 66 種語言構音為本的分析 Spoken Language Iconicity: An Articulatory-based Analysis of 66 Languages 研 究 生： 朱易安 指導教授： 賴郁雯 博士 呂佳蓉 博士 中華民國一百零七年二月 口語象似性: 66 種語言構音為本的分析 Spoken Language Iconicity: An Articulatory-based Analysis of 66 Languages 研 究 生：朱易安 Student: Ian Joo 指導教授：賴郁雯 Advisor: Yuwen Lai 呂佳蓉 Chiarung Lu 國 立 交 通 大 學 外國語文學系暨外國文學與語言學碩士班 碩 士 論 文 A Thesis Submitted to Graduate Program of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures National Chiao Tung University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master in Foreign Literatures and Linguistics February 2018 Hsinchu, Taiwan 中華民國一百零七年二月 口語象似性: 66 種語言構音為本的分析 指導教授：賴郁雯 博士 學生：朱易安 呂佳蓉 博士 國立交通大學 外國語文學系暨外國文學與語言學碩士班 詞彙的聲音跟語意是否具有相關性? 例如，圓唇母音會不會在代表圓形的事物的字 詞中比平唇母音更常出現? 本論文調查 66 種沒有譜系關係的語言，選取 100 個基本詞 彙分析，研究顯示 36% 的字詞與特定聲音有很強的正或負相關。這個結果與前人研究 中的感知實驗和/或其類型研究吻合。例如：表達圓形的身體部位的詞素 (‘臍’，‘脖’， ‘乳’，‘膝’) 常有圓唇母音，本文推測肇因於圓唇和圓型之間的構音類似性。代表口腔運 動的詞素跟類似的構音動作有相互關係 (例如 ‘吹’ = 唇字音，擦音，圓唇母音)。這些關 係再次證明口語裡的語音與語意的匹配不是隨機的，而呈現某種程度的象似性。 關字: 象似性，類型學，聲音象，語音學，語意學 i Spoken Language Iconicity: An Articulatory-based Analysis of 66 Languages Advisor: Dr. Yuwen Lai Student: Ian Joo Dr. Chiarung Lu Graduate Program of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics National Chiao Tung University Abstract Is the phonetic form of a lexical item related to its semantic value in any way? For ex- ample, do rounded vowels occur more frequently in lexical items that refer to round objects than unrounded vowels do? Based on a wordlist of 100 basic lexical terms from 66 genealog- ically unrelated languages, I have investigated whether each term tends to be represented by morphemes containing or not containing certain sounds. The results show that 36 out of 100 meanings show preference or dispreference for certain sounds, many of these correlations sup- ported by previous experimental studies and/or cross-checked by other typological studies. For instance, morphemes that refer to round body parts (‘navel’, ‘neck’, ‘breast’, and ‘knee’) fre- quently bear rounded vowels, possibly due to the articulatory similarity between lip rounding and round shapes. Morphemes that signify oral actions correlate with the similar articulatory gestures (e. g. ‘to blow’ = labial consonants, fricatives, and rounded vowels). These correla- tions once again demonstrate that the mapping between sound and meaning in spoken languages may not be entirely arbitrary but can be, to some degree, iconic. Keywords: iconicity, typology, sound symbolism, phonetics, semantics ii Acknowledgement “That’s a lot to do for a Master’s thesis,” or so I’ve heard from several people when I told them about this thesis project. It was indeed an overwhelming task for an M. A. student to collect thousands of morphemes from dozens of languages to conduct an analysis that attempts to argue against one of the most broadly accepted principle of linguistics - the arbitrariness of signs. It was only with the help of people from all over the world - many of whom I have never met - that this challenging work was finally made into a thesis. I first thank my advisors, Yuwen Lai (National Chiao Tung University) and Chiarung Lu (National Taiwan University). Prof. Lai gave me detailed comments about the phonetic side of my thesis, while Prof. Lu provided me helpful insights into the field of cognitive linguistics. As this thesis is a phonetic and a semantic study, the two advisors with their different expertise were the best of both worlds for me. 我非常感謝兩位老師的指導。 Other people I must thank are those who provided me the data of many minority languages: Adam Boyd, John Sullivan, Claudine Chamoreau, Arok Wolvengrey, Lynda de Jong Boudreault, Richard Scaglion, Lise M. Dobrin, Bonny Sands, Minik Jeremiassen, Jill Riepe, Jesse Pryor, Karie Pryor, Cliff Goddard, Francesc Queixalós, Andy Minch, and Gatot (a native speaker of Galela). Syukuru dala-dala, Gatot. I would also like to thank my friends: Alan Nielsen, who encouraged me to use more rigid statistical methods, and Thomas Van Hoey, who thoroughly proofread my thesis. Thank you Alan, dank je wel Thomas. And lastly, how can I not thank my mom, my dad, and my brother who always trusted that what I was doing meant something. This thesis is based on their years of financial and emotional support and is thus dedicated to them. 엄마, 아빠, 상진아, 고마워. iii Table of Contents ............................................. i Abstract ........................................... ii Acknowledgement ..................................... iii Table of Contents ..................................... iv List of Figures ....................................... vi List of Tables ........................................ vii 1 Introduction ....................................... 1 2 Literature Review ................................... 3 2.1 Sign language iconicity .............................. 3 2.2 Spoken Language Iconicity ............................ 5 2.2.1 Ideophones and onomatopoeia ...................... 6 2.2.2 Experimental Studies ........................... 7 3 Research Question ................................... 11 4 Previous Research ................................... 13 4.1 Spatial Deixis ................................... 13 4.2 Pronouns ..................................... 14 4.3 Swadesh List ................................... 15 4.4 Diachronic iconicity ................................ 19 5 Methodology ...................................... 23 5.1 Wordlist ...................................... 23 5.2 Sample Languages ................................ 25 5.3 Database ...................................... 30 5.4 Transcription ................................... 34 5.5 Classification ................................... 34 5.6 Proportion Calculation .............................. 39 5.7 Statistical Analysis of Correlations ........................ 40 iv 6 Results and Discussion ................................. 41 6.1 Positive and Negative Correlations ........................ 41 6.2 Comparison with Blasi et al. ........................... 44 6.3 Possible Motivations ............................... 48 6.3.1 Mouth ................................... 48 6.3.2 Shape ................................... 48 6.3.3 Size .................................... 48 6.3.4 Texture .................................. 49 6.3.5 Deixis ................................... 49 6.3.6 Verbal signs ................................ 50 7 Conclusion ....................................... 51 References ......................................... 53 Appendix A The morphemes .............................. 66 Appendix B Lexical sources and transcription method of each language . 158 v List of Figures 2.1 LIS sign for ‘napkin’. ............................... 4 3.1 ASL sign for ‘sleep.’ Retrieved from http://www.handspeak.com on 2017/06/03. 12 5.1 Distribution map of sample languages. Longitude and latitude of each language were retrieved from Glottolog 3.0 [1]. Map created with Microsoft Excel 2016. 30 vi List of Tables 2.1 English and Vietnamese onomatopoeic expressions that resemble each other. 7 4.1 Concepts that show significant phonosemantic correlations, found by Blasi et al. 17 4.2 Concepts where Blasi et al. did not find any significant phonosemantic correlations 18 5.1 The LJ List. .................................... 25 5.2 The 66 sample languages. ............................. 27 5.3 Specifications for some of the LJ List terms. ................... 33 5.4 Phonemes that exist in the inventory of at least 70% of 2155 languages. 35 5.5 Phonemes and classes that exist in more than 70% of the languages. 36 5.6 Common classes ................................. 36 5.7 IPA characters of each class. ........................... 38 5.8 The phonosemantic correlations represented by the p-values at different FDRs. 40 6.1 Positive and negative correlations. ........................ 41 6.2 Comparison between the results of the two typological studies . 44 A.1 Spanish - Mandarin Chinese - Yoruba ...................... 66 A.2 Egyptian Spoken Arabic - Javanese - Telugu ................... 70 A.3 Turkish - Japanese - Vietnamese ......................... 74 A.4 Thai - Korean - Dholuo .............................. 78 A.5 Hungarian - Chuanqiandian Cluster Miao - South Bolivian Quechua . 82 A.6 Peripheral Mongolian - Kabardian - K’iche’ ................... 86 A.7 Paraguayan Guarani - Georgian - Enga ...................... 90 A.8 Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl - Central Aymara - Meqzuital Otomi . 95 A.9 Wayuu - Basque - Ngäbere ............................ 99 A.10 Highland Totonac - Khoekhoe - Galela . 103 A.11 Mapudungun - Western Highland Purepecha - Woods Cree . 108 A.12 Navajo - Highland Popoluca - Ambulas ..................... 113 vii A.13 Mískito - Shuar - Northern Emberá ........................ 117 A.14 Bukiyip - Northwestern !Kung - Greenlandic . 121 A.15 Burushaski - Sentani - Terei . 126 A.16 Macushi - Ap Ma - Páez .............................130 A.17 Wichí Lhamtés Vejoz - Sandawe - Xibe . 134 A.18 Toba - Ticuna - Kaingang .............................138 A.19 Pitjantjatjara - Guahibo - Shipibo-Conibo . 142 A.20 Yanomamö - Tucano - Warao . 146 A.21 Awa-Cuaiquer - Mai Brat - Piaroa . 150 A.22 Amanab - Choctaw - Cherokee . 154 B.1 Lexical sources and transcription method of each language. 158 viii Chapter 1 Introduction I often have this strange and penetrating dream of an unknown woman, whom I love, and who loves me […] Is she brown-haired, blond, or redheaded? I do not know. Her name? I remember that it was soft and
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