How borrowing, semantic evolution, and regular sound changes
obscure iconicity
Maria Flaksman | 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.
Article outline
1.Introduction
2.Methods and methodology
3.Iconicity and diachronic research: a? brief overview
4.De-iconization of meaning
4.1Mechanisms of semantic evolution
4.2Semantic de-iconization of onomatopoeic and sound symbolic
words
4.3Classification of semantic de-iconization patterns
4.4De-iconization of lexical units of higher hierarchy
5.Phonological de-iconization
5.1Regular sound changes
5.2Classification of form transformations leading to
de-iconization
Pathway 1: Regular sound changes taking place in one
language
Pathway 2: Adaptation of loanwords and regular sound
changes
Pathway 3: Root re-combinations and regular sound
changes
Pathway 4: Root re-combinations, adaptation of loanword,
and regular sound changes
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