Sound Symbolism

by Hinton, Johanna Nichols (Editor), John J. Ohala (Editor)

Sound symbolism is the study of the relationship between the sound of an utterance and its meaning. In this interdisciplinary collection of new studies, twenty-four leading scholars discuss the role of sound symbolism in a theory of language, drawing on a wide range of linguistic data. The extensive new research presented here reveals that sound symbolism plays a far more significant role in language than scholarship has hitherto recognized.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 26, 1995

Reviews

[Simon Håkansson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed over some parts

[A.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for my MA dissertation on author names, but only really thoroughly read the introduction, as what I needed was a simple explanation of sound symbolism.

The introduction was very clear, and explained the differences between conventional sound symbolism and other branches, giving some rather interesting examples of the use of sound symbolism in the 'normal' world, particularly in brand creation.

The essays themselves included in the book were very technical, and probably only decipherable to those with a background in Linguistics.

The book includes 22 essays on sound symbolism, separated into 7 parts. The essays cover a variety of languages, from Native American, Latin American, European and English languages.