Abstract
The biggest challenge in the study of language evolution is the fact that language does not leave fossil records in the rock. However, it has been argued that some reminants of earlier forms of language has been “fossilized” in modern language. (1990) suggested that syntactic properties of “protolanguage” (a communication system that is a precursor to modern language) can be seen in utterances produced by Broca’s aphasics, infants in the two-word stage, speakers of a Pidgin language, and Genie, who were deprived of language input until the age of 13 due to abusive imprisonment (Curtis 1977). (2002) suggests that interjections such as ouch, wow, and oh is a fossil from a stage in the development of protolangauge in which words did not combine syntactically and the referents of the words were situation-bound and mostly affective. In this article, we will explore another possible fossil of protolanguage, namely sound-symbolic words. More specifi cally, this article investigates the semantic properties of these words, taking sound symbolic words in Japanese as an example. Sound symbolic words have certain restrictions as to what type of events and states they can refer to. It is suggested that these restrictions might tell us the “world view” held by the speakers of protolanguage that heavily relied on sound symbolic words.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alpher B (1994) Yir-Yoront ideophones. In: Hinton L, Nichols J, Ohala JJ (eds.) Sound symbolism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 161–177
Atoda T, Hoshino K (1995) Giongo gitaigo tsukaikata jiten (Usage dictionary of sound/manner mimetics). Sotakusha, Tokyo
Bartens A (2000) Ideophones and sound symbolism in Atlantic creoles. Academia Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki
Bickerton D (1990) Language&species. University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL.
Childs GT (1994) African ideophones. In: Hinton L, Nichols J, Ohala JJ (eds) Sound symbolism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 178–206
Curtis S (1977) Genie: A linguistic study of a modern-day “Wild child”. Academic Press, New York
Darwin C (1955) The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago (The original work published 1871)
Davis R (1961) The fitness of names to drawings: A cross-cultural study in Tanganyika. British Journal of Psychology 52:259–268
Diffloth G (1972) The notes on expressive meaning. In: Peranteau PM, Levi JN, Phares GC (eds) Papers from the eighth regional meeting of the Chicago linguistic society. Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago, IL, pp 440–447
Diffloth G (1976) Expressives in Semai, Austroasiatic Studies 1:249–264
Enfield NJ (2005) Areal linguistics and mainland Southeast Asia. Annual Review of Anthropology 34:181–206
Firth JR (1935/1957) The use and distribution of certain English sounds. In: Firth JR (ed) Papers in linguistics 1934–1951. Oxford University Press, London, pp 34–46 (Reprinted from Firth JR (1935), English Studies 17:2–12)
Hamano S (1986) The sound symbolic system of Japanese. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida
Hamano S (1998) The sound symbolic system of Japanese. CSLI Publication&Kuroshio, Stanford, CA&Tokyo
Hinton L, Nichols J, Ohala JJ (1994) Sound symbolism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ibarretxe-Antuñano I (2006) Sound symbolism and motion in Basque. Lincom, München
Jackendoff R (2002) Foundations of language: Brain, meaning, grammar, evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Johansson S (2005) Origins of language: Constraints on hypotheses. John Benjamins, Philadelphia, PA
de Jong N (2001) The ideophone in didinga. In: Voeltz FKE, Kilian-Hatz C (eds) Ideophones. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 121–138
Kindaichi H (1978) Giongo ginatigo gaisetsu (An introduction to mimetics). In: Asano T (ed) Giongo gitaigo jiten (Mimetics dictionary) Kadokawa, Tokyo, pp 3–25
Kita S (1993) Language and thought interface: A study of spontane ous gestures and Japanese mimetics. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Kita S (1997) Two-dimensional semantic analysis of Japanese mimetics. Linguistics 35:379–415
Kita S (2001) Semantic schism and interpretive integration in Japanese sentences with a mimetic: A reply to Tsujimura. Linguistics 39: 419–436
Köhler W (1929) Gestalt psychology. Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York
Limber J (1982) What can chimps tell us about the origin of language? In: Kuczaj S (ed) Language development, vol 2. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 429–469
Majid A, Bowerman M, Kita S, Haun DB, Levinson SCL (2004) Can language restructure cognition? The case of space. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8:108–114
Matsumoto Y (1997) Kuukan idoo no gengohyoogen to sono kakuchoo (Linguistic expression of motion in space, and their extensions). In: Tanaka S, Matsumoto Y (eds) Kuukan to idoo no hyoogen (Expressions of space and motion). Kenkyuusha, Tokyo, pp 125–230
McCawley JD (1968) The phonological component of a grammar of Japanese. Mouton, The Hague
McGregor W (2001) Ideophones as the source of verbs in northern Australian languages. In: Voeltz FKE, Kilian-Hatz C (eds) Ideophones. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 205–221
Mikone E (2001) Ideophones in Balto-Finnic languages. In: Voeltz FKE, Kilian-Hatz C (eds) Ideophones. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 223–234
Morton ES (1994) The biological bases of sound symbolism. In: Hinton L, Nichols J, Ohala JJ (eds) Sound symbolism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 348–365
Msimang CT, Poulos G (2001) The ideophone in Zulu: A re-examination of conceptual and descriptive notions. In: Voeltz FKE, Kilian-Hatz C (eds) Ideophones. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 235–249
Müller FM (1866) Lectures on the science of language. Scribner, New York
Newmeyer FJ (1993) Iconicity and generative grammar. Language 68: 756–796
Nuckolls JB (1996) Sounds like life. Oxford University Press, New York
Nuckolls JB (1999) The case for sound symbolism. Annual Review of Anthropology 28:225–252
Ohala JJ (1994) The frequency code underlies the sound-symbolic use of voice pitch. In: Hinton L, Nichols J, Ohala JJ (eds) Sound symbolism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 325–347
Ramachandran VS, Hubbard EM (2001) Synaesthesia—A window into perception, thought, and language. Journal of Consciousness Studies 8:3–34
Sapir E (1929) The status of linguistics as science. Language 5:207–214
de Saussure F (1983) Course in general linguistics. R. Harris, trans. Open Court, La Salle, IL (Original work published 1916)
Schultze-Berndt E (2001) Ideophone-like characteristics of uninflected predicates in Jaminjung (Australia). In: Voeltz FKE, Kilian-Hatz C (eds) Ideophones. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 355–374
Senghas A, Kita S, Özyürek A (2004) Children creating core properties of language: Evidence from an emerging sign language in Nicaragua. Science 305:1779–1782
Voeltz FKE, Kilian-Hatz C (eds) (2001) Ideophones. John Benjamins, Amsterdam
Watson RL (2001) A comparison of some Southeast Asian ideophones with some African ideophones. In: Voeltz FKE, Kilian-Hatz C (eds) Ideophones. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 385–405
Whorf BL (1956) Science and linguistics. In: Carroll JB (ed) Language thought and reality. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 207–219 (The original work published 1940)
Wray A (2000) Holistic utterances in protolanguage: The link from primates to humans. In: Knight C, Studdert-Kennedy M, Hurford J (eds) Evolutionary emergence of language: Social function and the origins of linguistic form. Cambridge University Press, West Nyack, NY, pp 285–302
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kita, S. (2008). World-View of Protolanguage Speakers as Inferred from Semantics of Sound Symbolic Words: A Case of Japanese Mimetics. In: Masataka, N. (eds) The Origins of Language. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-79102-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-79102-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-79101-0
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-79102-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)