Rhyme Over Reason - Phonological Motivation in English

The sound shape of words carries meaning for its users and also bears a range of social and interactional functions.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Phonological motivation in language evolution and development; 3. Phonetic symbolism; 4. Onomatopoeia; 5. Rhyme and alliteration in blends and compounds; 6. Words, words, words: rhyme and repetition in multi-word expressions; 7. Conclusions: the piggy in the middle.

About the author

Réka Benczes is Associate Professor at the Institute of Behavioural Sciences and Communication Theory, Corvinus University of Budapest, and is also an affiliate of the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Melbourne. She is the author of Creative Compounding in English (2006), and Kognitív nyelvészet (Cognitive Linguistics; with Zoltán Kövecses, 2010), and has edited Defining Metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics (with Antonio Barcelona and Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, 2011) and Wrestling with Words and Meanings: Essays in Honour of Keith Allan (with Kate Burridge, 2014).

Summary

Ideal for scholars and students of linguistics, discourse, stylistics and language play, this book explores the role of phonological motivation - sound symbolism and rhyme/alliteration - in English word-formation. It argues that the sound shape of words carries meaning for its users and also has a range of social and interactional functions.

Product details

• Authors: R¿ Benczes, Reka Benczes, Réka Benczes, Reka (Monash University Victoria) Benczes
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2019
• EAN: 9781108491877
• ISBN: 978-1-108-49187-7
• No. of pages: 276
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; English, Dialect, slang & jargon, Phonetics, phonology, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Dialect, slang and jargon, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc