Diachronic Problems in Phonosymbolism

Download or read book Diachronic Problems in Phonosymbolism written by Yakov Malkiel and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phonosymbolism, or sound symbolism (Lautsymbolik), is a vital ingredient of language growth. Many serious scholars, however, have regarded it with embarrassment or indifference. A cautious reintroduction of phonosymbolism as a factor responsible for changes undergone, in varying degrees, by most languages would now seem to be in order. The present volume brings together a number of recent articles on this subject, focusing mostly on problems from Romance languages, especially Spanish; but English also figures prominently.