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Article published In:
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 40:2 (2017) ► pp.179–201

Ideophones in Khaling Rai

| Histoire des théories linguistiques, CNRS | University of Paris Diderot

In Khaling Rai, a number of lexemes have been found which can be considered ideophones, according to Dingemanse’s (2012: 654) definition of the latter as “marked words depictive of sensory imagery.” This article will describe the different types of ideophones found in Khaling. These ideophones not only manifest a range of different morphological patterns, they cover the entire spectrum of sensory modalities found in Dingemanse’s implicational hierarchy (2012: 663), namely sound, movement, visual patterns, other sensory perceptions (such as texture and taste) and cognitive states. The more than 400 ideophones collected to date in Khaling present a sound symbolic landscape which appears to be considerably richer than that found in other Kiranti languages with which the author is familiar.

Keywords: ideophones, sound symbolism, Khaling Rai, Kiranti
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Types of ideophones in Khaling
  • 3.Type A ideophones
    • 3.1Subtype A1
    • 3.2Subtype A2
    • 3.3Characteristics of type A ideophones
    • 3.4Derivation and combination with verbs
  • 4.Type B ideophones
    • 4.1Semantics
    • 4.2Derivation and combination with verbs
    • 4.3Relationship with type A ideophones
  • 5.Type C ideophones
    • 5.1Subtype C1
    • 5.2Subtype C2
    • 5.3Semantic characteristics
    • 5.4Derivation and combination with verbs
    • 5.5Sources for type C ideophones
  • 6.General issues
    • 6.1Sound symbolism
    • 6.2Reduplication in Khaling
    • 6.3Relationship with auditory demonstrative
    • 6.4Typological issues
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 5 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.17005.lah
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Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Iraide
2019. Chapter 6. Towards a semantic typological classification of motion ideophones. In Ideophones, Mimetics and Expressives [Iconicity in Language and Literature, 16], ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Iraide
2021. The domain of olfaction in Basque. In The Linguistics of Olfaction [Typological Studies in Language, 131], ► pp. 73 ff. DOI logo

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