Chapter published in:
Operationalizing Iconicity
Edited by Pamela Perniss, Olga Fischer and Christina Ljungberg
[Iconicity in Language and Literature 17] 2020
► pp. 76–103

Pathways of de-iconization

How borrowing, semantic evolution, and regular sound changes obscure iconicity

| St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
The present chapter addresses various issues of de-iconization of iconic (mainly onomatopoeic) words, in particular, in the course of their regular phonetic and semantic development. These processes are described with an emphasis on word’s etymology, examples being drawn from modern and ancient Germanic languages. The chapter proposes a classification of various form transformations that lead to de-iconization.
Published online: 13 May 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.17.05fla
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