Ideophones and the Evolution of Language

Zusatztext 'This is a splendid book - lively and stimulating, presenting the ideophone as a source in language phylogenesis and a new role for play in fostering the distinction between 'doing' and 'showing' at the origin. Haiman's style, erudition, and provocative hypothesis invite one into a joyful discussion.' David McNeill, University of Chicago Informationen zum Autor John Haiman is the author of Hua: A Papuan Language of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea (1980), The Rhaeto-Romance Languages (with Paola Beninca, 1992) and Cambodian: Khmer (2011). He pioneered the resurgence of interest in iconicity in language with Natural Syntax (Cambridge, 1985), and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship 1989 for the study of sarcasm, which resulted in his book Talk Is Cheap (1998). Zusammenfassung This cross-linguistic study explores the role of the ideophone - a single word that conveys an impression of what it describes - in language evolution. It argues that ideophones provide the 'missing link' in our knowledge of how communication has evolved from early gestured performance through to spoken language today. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. The gestural origin theory of language genesis; 2. What are ideophones?; 3. Lexical origins of ideophones; 4. Suiting the word to the action: oral charades; 5. Ideophones as a possible solution to the ritualization problem; 6. Taming ideophones: from showing to telling; 7. Repetition in the genesis of signs, art, and ideophones.

Product details

• Authors: John Haiman, John (Macalester College Haiman, Haiman John
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2020
• EAN: 9781107695030
• ISBN: 978-1-107-69503-0
• No. of pages: 393
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Linguistics, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, Sociolinguistics, Phonetics, phonology, Historical & comparative linguistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Historical and comparative linguistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc