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Between Grammar and Onomatopoeia: Sound-Symbolic Schemata in Czech
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Christina Y. Bethin, ed. American Contributions to the 14th International Congress of Slavists, Ohrid, September 2008. Vol. 2: Literature. Bloomington, IN: Slavica, 95-109. Between Grammar and Onomatopoeia: Sound-Symbolic Schemata in Czech Masako U. Fidler 1. Introduction The study of onomatopoeia has a long history (e.g., Jespersen 1933; Thorndike 1945; Jakobson 1962 and 1971; Jakobson and Waugh 1979), and typologies and theoretical models for sound symbolism continue in more recent years (e.g., Hinton et al. 1994; Nuckolls 1996; Hamano 1998; Fónagy 2000; Herlofsky et al. 2005). The significant role played by sound in language processing has also been reported (Sereno 1994; Bergen 2004). This paper will examine the possible connections between onomatopoeia, grammar , and discourse. By onomatopoeia, I mean uninflected expressions that represent sounds, motions, and emotions such as those below. (1) bác: ‘a sound of hitting or falling’; pim: ‘a sound of something small falling.’ (2) hop: ‘a jump’; hrr: ‘a sudden and fast movement’ (3) br: ‘a sound indicating cold or dislike’; juch: ‘a sound of joy’ The goal of my article is slightly different from that of many studies that argue for the existence of a consistent relationship between sound and meaning in conventionalized linguistic forms, as seen in Jakobson 1962, 1971; and Jakobson and Waugh 1979. Admittedly, this paper will explore the non-arbitrary relationship between sound and meaning, but its main goal is to explain such a relationship as part of some of the basic cognitive processes that motivate onomatopoeic expressions (henceforth OpEs) as well as non-onomatopoeic expressions. For this reason, I also argue that parallel processes take place not only on the level of OpEs and grammar, but also on the level of discourse. The targets of my discussion are lengthening of sound segments (4), reduplication (5), and some of the final sound segments that can be added to OpEs (6): (4) br: brrr ‘expression of dislike’; bac: bác ‘a loud banging sound’ 96 MASAKO U. FIDLER (5) dup: dup dup, dupydup, dupitydup ‘a sound of foot steps’ (6) frr: frk, frnk ‘a fast and sudden motion’ The imitative OpEs will be phonetically represented in the English glosses and their properties are explained in the prose. If, however, OpEs designate a nonimitative meaning, it will be translated in the English glosses. I first discuss functions that correlate with these three types of variation in OpEs. I then point out that similar sound-function correspondences are found on other nononomatopoeic levels: on the level of word formation and on the level of discourse. This will essentially show that (a) onomatopoeic and non-onomatopoeic parts of language are not as distinct as they seem, and that (b) partial schematicity, which leads to linguistic creativity (Langacker 1987: 68–73), is applicable across the boundary between onomatopoeic and non-onomatopoeic parts of language. Furthermore, my observations will suggest a possible mechanism by which acquisition of language might move from the early language learning process of acquiring prefabricated (thus longer) linguistic units (D!browska 2004: 18–27) to acquiring more detailed structures . I thereby argue that onomatopoeia, which has long been considered peripheral to language (de Saussure 1959: 69) and is attributed to a primitive or naïve view of nature by its users (Ko"ínek 1934: 178), not only helps understand what motivates grammar, but also sheds light on some aspects of language acquisition. The OpEs are identified in dictionary entries (especially in the eight-volume dictionary Slovník spisovného jazyka !eského [1989]) and their contextualized samples are sought in literature, the Internet, and in the Czech National Corpus Syn2000 and Syn2005. Raw frequencies of conventionalized forms were taken from Syn2000 and Syn2005. 2. Lengthening OpEs may show variation in length of their segments. The relevance of length is attested cross-linguistically. For example, instantaneity is associated with short vowels, while long spatial and temporal expansion, and strenuousness of action are associated with length in Japanese mimetic words (Hamano 1998: 72–3, 109–10). Durativity is associated with lengthening in sound symbolic expressions of Pastaza Quechua (Nuckolls 1996: 68–71). The discourse functions of lengthening in Czech have been discussed in Fidler elsewhere (2007). OpEs with a lengthened sound segment generally reflect a longerlasting sound (e.g., [bz] as opposed to [bz!] as buzzing sounds of different lengths). By showing a more close-up view of the sound, however, one focuses more on the internal properties of the sound described by the OpE than those described by the shorter...