Phonosemantic Features in English: An Approach to Sound Symbolism

Abstract

The phenomenon of sound symbolism or phonetic symbolism in language has been noticed by previous writers; sounds that have deducible meanings have been referred to as phonaesthemes. Sound symbolism is interesting because it violates the principle of the separation of sound and meaning in language: in Saussure's terms l'arbitraire du signe. This paper reports the results of a method of analyzing sound symbolism in English, in which the rimes of one-syllable words are analyzed for common semantic themes. It is found that some rimes are of arbitrary semanticity, whereas others show one or a limited number of semantic themes. It is proposed that the theoretical framework known as construction grammar can be useful in understanding this sound symbolism. A concept of phonosemantic feature is put forward, which refers to dimensions of meaning which help to structure the lexicon. Phonosemantic features are analogous to the distinctive features of phonology in that, although not units of meaning in themselves, they constitute a set of dimensions which can underlie the more specific meanings of lexemes. Phonosemantic features also function in constructions rather similarly to derivational morphology in that they help structure the lexicon for purposes of production, storage and comprehension.