Diagrammatic Iconicity in EkeGusii: A relation between the structure of form and meaning  

作　　者：Elijah Omwansa Mariera Evans Gesura Mecha George Morara Anyona 

机构地区：[1]Kisii University,Kenya

出　　处：《宏观语言学》2021年第1期84-100,共17页Macrolinguistics

摘　　要：This paper mainly presents evidence for a relationship between language structure and meaning in EkeGusii,a Bantu language spoken in Kenya.The main argument is that the structure of language mirrors the structure of reality.A brief overview of other scholars demonstrates that diagrammatic iconicity shows universal tendencies.Five main ideas run down the discussion.Firstly,in EkeGusii,speakers sub-consciously cluster sounds around related meanings,evidencing gestalt and relative iconicity.Secondly,there is evidence of overlap of morphological and phonetic iconicity,an aspect of phonaesthesia.Thirdly,reduplication in certain infinitives demonstrates the reality of phono-iconicity in EkeGusii,augmented by unpleasant sound sequences.Fourthly,certain onomatopes in EkeGusii are actually diagrammatic,indicating that there is no one stop criterion for classifying overlapping types of icons.And finally,the paper posits that iconicity intersects with arbitrariness showing that language has both motivated and discrete symbols.

关 键 词：elisive reduplication phonaesthesia echoic transparency DIAGRAM gestalt and relative iconicity 

分 类 号：H31[语言文字—英语]