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From:
Cheryl Zapien Date: Thu Oct 29, 1998 2:16 pm Subject: Re: iconicity | |
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I think it's that long e sound (can you tell I'm not a linguist*smile*) also the very short I sound (itsy bitsy). I do think that it's language specific. There are a number of words in Hebrew, I've been told, that have these onomonopaeic qualities and for certain, Yiddish does. My grandparents spoke this language fluently (it was their yak language) and with a number of their very colorful curses, you could understand the curse without necessarily understanding Yidddish particularly well, so onomonopaeic is the language. Cheryl Cecelia Smith wrote: > In a message dated 10/27/98 11:44:23 PM Eastern Standard Time, > writes: > > > > > However there are words in English and other spoken languages which sound > > like > > their meaning. For example: Thunder. or better yet: teeny tiny. These > > onomonopaeic words are, for all intents and purposes iconic. My 2 cents. > > Cheryl > > hmmm.. I've heard this before, but I still don't get how "teeny tiny" sounds > very small. Or how "thunder" sounds like that glorious rolling sound... I > guess I've never really accepted onomonopia as an explanation for words too > much... including things like woof and meow, because other languages/cultures > don't think that dogs say woof. > > :) |
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