Anmar Ahmed
History of the Term :
Ideophones have been recognized in modern linguistics at least since
1935, but they still lie far outside the concerns of mainstream (Western)
linguistic debate, in part because they are most richly attested in
relatively unstudied (often unwritten) languages ( Haiman , 2018 , P.1) .
The term presented for the first time by Doke in 1935. Doke tried to
establish with the term ideophone, which he borrowed from the
phonetician E.W. Scripture, a new grammatical category which was
clearly different from mimic nouns and onomatopoeia
The Definition of The Term :
The word consists of two parts ideo + phone . A form that conveys an
idea or impression , as in certain African languages , by means of a sound
, often reduplicated , that suggest an action , quality , manner , etc
(Agnes & Guralnik , 2007 , P.708 ) .
A lexical definition is important, and there is also a definition that links
ideophones to language as a universal concept. This definition links
ideophone with the origin of the language .
Ideophones are not only dramatic performances: They are word-like
vocalic productions, which are par excellence performed with histrionic
gestures. Second, ideophones could be called ‘prelinguistic’ ‘semiwords’
compared to ordinary – henceforth, prosaic – words insofar as they
recurrently fail to exhibit many of the universally recognized design
features of language. Both of these robust observations are, of course,
more than compatible with a gestural origins theory of language genesis
and suggest the hypothesis that ideophones and their kind constitute a
missing link between predominantly gestural (more importantly
spontaneous, holistic, and analog) communication and the institution of
autonomous rule-governed digital speech(Haiman , 2018 , P.76).
Doke's definition was concise and directly linked ideophones to sound as
A vivid representation of an idea in sound. A word, often onomatopoeic,
which describes a predicate, qualificative or adverb in respect to
manner, colour, sound, smell, action, state or intensity (Voeltz & Hatz ,
2001,P.1) .
It can also be define as a subset of sound symbolic words, which can also
include phonaesthemes and other strategies (Blench,2009,P.1)
Distinguishing between Onomatopoeia and Ideophone :
The phonetician E.W. Scripture define ideophone as a new grammatical
category which was clearly different from mimic nouns and
onomatopoeia — for which he provides separate entries. The
importance of his definition was the observation that ideophones were
neither always onomatopoeic (What sounds do colors make that one
may imitate? But there are ideophones for colors.), nor could they be
grouped with any particular grammatical category normally recognized,
and therefore they constituted a category in their own right. While
distancing himself from the sound-meaning correlation of ideophones —
which would make them onomatopoeias— he was nevertheless quick to
point out that ideophones had a special phonology which set them
noticeably apart from other words :
“It must be pointed out that generally the special rules of length, tone
and stress, applicable in ordinary grammatical forms, differ considerably
in the case of ideophones”( Voeltz & Hatz ,2001,P.2) . All onomatopes
are ideophones, but not all ideophones are onomatopes. Onomatopoeic
ideophones should be icons. But ideophones in hundreds of languages
relate not only to sounds but to sights, textures, motions, smells, and
states of mind(Haiman , 2018 , P.82) . To develop an accurate definition
of onomatopoeia, one can say that onomatopoeic words are containing
sounds similar to the noises they describe ( Yule , 2006 , P . 291 )
Ideophone in English Phonetics and Phonology and the Grammatical
Grade for each ideophone :
A phonological study thus deals with the structure of the phonetic
segments in a language. It also deals with the function of these
segments. In one sense this means determining whether a given sound is
used in words of everyday · speech or only in a particular style of speech
(poetic, archaic, etc.). For example, languages often use exceptional
sounds or sound sequences mideophones, a class of forms which
express noises, feelings, intensity, etc (Hyman , 1975 , 4 )
The bilabial trill represented orthographically as brrr in English and used
to convey the idea of one's being cold falls outside the sound system of
English. Unlike the sound b or the sound r, which are phonetic and
phonological segments of English, brrr does not combine with other
sounds to build words as he mentions ( ibid ) : 4 .
While there is a word bat and a word rat, there is no English word [ɓ̘ æt],
where [ɓ̘ ] represents this bilabial trill. A bilabial trill does occur in some
languages, for example, in the Babanki word [ɓ̘ ɨ] 'dog,' though it is
relatively rare. A second sound occurring only in a single English
ideophone is the coarticulated labiovelar stop [kp] as found in
[kpəkpəkpə] (the ideophone used to call chickens). The status of [kp] in
English is quite different from that of the [kp] which frequently occurs in
West African languages, for example, Igbo [akpa] 'bag.' A purely
phonetic study of English describes this sound and notes its infrequency
in the language. A phonological study points out the limited function of
[kp] in English, that is, the fact that it is permissible only in one
ideophone. It therefore differs from [p] and [k] not only quantitatively
(that is, in frequency), but also qualitatively as he mentions ( ibid ) : 4 .
After explaining this simple overview of the status of the ideophone in
the English phonetics and phonology, it is good to mention the
ideophones in English and its grammatical state :
Ideophone Part of speech
Dilly-dally verb
Ding-dong onomatopoeia/noun
Flim-flam noun
Harum-scarum adverb
Helter-skelter adverb/noun
Hip-hop noun
Hocus-pocus noun
Hugger-mugger adverb
Knick-knack noun
Mish-mash noun
Namby-pamby adjective
Riff-raff noun
Shilly-shally verb
Tell-tale noun/adjective
Tick-tock onomatopoeia
Wishy-washy adjective
Zig-zag verb/noun
Whether there is any significance in the predominance of forms
beginning with h- is unclear. English has a very strong preference for
either copy vowels or a front vowel in the first word followed by a
central or back vowel in the echo (Blench , 2009 , P.4)
Some of the Ideophone Features :
1-they have little to do with other elements of sentences or with
inflectional or derivational morphology, so they could be justifiably
called marginal
2-Ideophones and interjections are similar in that they share a degree of
syntactic independence, one basis for portraying them as marginal
3-Non arbitrary correlation between form and the meaning .
4-They also meet the criterion of semantic markedness , the word
express specific sense impressions
5 -Sometimes is a well formed syllable – initial consonant cluster
They also morphosyntactically unmarked ( Trommer , 2012 , P . 388 )
6-The produce of the closure ideophone differ from other sounds by
producing with instantaneous release ( Chomsky & Halle , 1968 , P . 321)
Conclusion : Ideophone in English Phonology & Phonetics
It is evident from the foregoing that ideophes in English phonetics &
phonology :
1 – Ideophone phonological state cannot combine with other sound to
build word as the case of brrr
2-The phonological syllable of ideophone sometimes is permissible only
in the ideophone , as in KP . It cannot be found in other English words .
3-Ideophone segments can change a phonetic conditional state . The
produce of closure phones can be in two ways (delay and instaneous
release) .Closure ideophone produces in one way with instaneous
release only , as in the case of ideophone bə̆vu describing sudden
appearance and flight
References
Agnes & Guralnik . ( 2006 ) . College Dictionary .Wiley Publishing
Blench . ( 2009 ) . The Sensory World ; Ideophones in Africa and
Elsewhere . Cambridge University
Chomsky & Halle . ( 1968 ) . The Sound Pattern of English . Library of
Congress
Hyman . ( 1975 ) . Phonology theory and analysis .Library of Congress
John Haiman . ( 2018 ) . Ideophones and the Evolution of Language .
Cambridge University Press
Trommer . ( 2012 ) . The Morphology and Phonology of Exponence.
Oxford University Press
Yule . ( 2006 ) . The Study of Language . Cambridge University Press
Voeltz & Hatz . ( 1999 ) . Ideophones . John Benjamins Publishing
Company
