3 Credits

Many languages of the world have phonaesthetic, sound-symbolic words
that express shapes, colors, smells, motions, sounds, or emotions.
These words are variably described as "ideophones," "expressives,"
"echo-words", etc. Although English is not usually viewed as a
language that is rich in phonosemantic words, we do have our share of
items such as wishy-washy, flim-flam, or mumbo-jumbo.

In this seminar, we will look at sound symbolism from descriptive
(i.e., language specific) and from comparative perspectives (both
areal and universal). Students will be expected to participate
actively in seminar discussions and to write an original term paper
on a topic of their choosing. The seminar should appeal to students
in anthropology and folklore with language interests as well as to
students in linguistics.

Recommended reading:

Hinton, Leanne, Johanna Nichols, and John Ohala (eds.). 1994. Sound
Symbolism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Voeltz, F. K. Erhard, and Christa Killian-Hatz (eds.). 2001.
Ideophones. (Typological Studies in Language, 44.) Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.