Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
net/publication/319466382
CITATION READS
1 52
1 author:
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
All content following this page was uploaded by Juan Carlos Moreno Cabrera on 11 November 2018.
1. Introduction
F S
aries, and Minkova (2002) discusses the prosodic and phonological aspects of AR
O
PRO
and proposes an illuminating analysis of this phenomenon in English. The works
D
mentioned in this paragraph are the main theoretical sources of the present paper.
C T E
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
doi 10.1075/ill.15.04mor
© 2017 John Benjamins Publishing Company
©J
1st proofs
64 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
This phonological aspect is correlated with the special semantic nature of these
expressions:
O F S
T E PRO
Both observations – that Ablaut words are semantically marked, and that the
D
dissimilation between the vowels is part of the picture – are valid aspects of the
C
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
description of Ablaut reduplication. (Minkova 2002: 143)
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 65
In this paper, I will try to specify the semantic contents of AR in English and also
in other languages in which this phenomenon occurs. The data considered here
supports the view that the AR template is attested in different languages not genet-
ically related to each other and that a common semantic analysis can be proposed
for almost all cases of AR in those languages.
O F S
to which the reduplicative template in English refers, /i/ and /a/ emerge as the
PRO
optimal nonrounded vowels to appear in the stressed syllable peaks.
D
(Minkova 2002: 151)
C T E
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
66 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
In spite of this observation, I think that it is necessary to take into account the
expressive quality of the vowel [i] in order to explain the overwhelming presence
of this vowel in the pattern. 1 In his famous paper on the symbolic value of the
vowel [i], Jespersen (1933: 573–574) 2 mentions some English verbs conveying rap-
id motion (and in some cases the sound produced by it) and containing a short
[i]: snick, slit, split, splinter, rip, chip, slip, whip, whittle, jig, flip, flit, flitter, flick,
flicker, jink, blink, wink, twinkle, glint. He also mentions the Danish verbs pile
and kile both denoting a rapid movement, and he adds rippe sig which denotes a
small movement. Latin ire ‘to go’ and Greek ripto ‘to throw’ are also mentioned
by Jespersen. D. L. Bolinger (1965: 245–246) suggested that the English verb flap
denotes an action that strikes and then glides off whereas flip conveys a lighter or
sharper blow or its result. As a consequence, “the /i/ vs. /æ/ opposition seems to
suggest a briefer focus upon the action” (Jakobson & Waugh 2002: 201).
Therefore, it can be suggested that there is an iconic association between the
vowel /i/ and a rapid or small movement. Concerning the semantic interpretation
of the English AR, Thun makes the following point:
The main function of this type of reduplication seems to be to depict movement
and alternation on the one hand and to denote disparagement on the other.
(Thun 1963: 221)
The two main readings of this construction observed by Thun can be related to
each other by means of metaphorical and metonymical shift processes typical of
reduplicative constructions as Fischer (2011: 65–68) has recently proposed. Fischer
O F S
1. Thun’s analysis of English (Thun 1963) has cases of alternation involving i and only cases
PRO
involving back vowels.
E D
2. This paper was originally published in 1922, but I am using an expanded version dated ten
C T
O R R E LISHING C
years later.
O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 67
O F S
E D PRO
3. Usuki and Akita (2015) argue that Japanese mimetic reduplicative stems are intrinsically
T
C
O R R E LISHING C
dynamic.
O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
68 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
zigzag
A short definition of zigzag will suffice here: “A line or course that proceeds by
sharp turns in alternating directions” (freedictionary.com). This definition has a
static side in which a line is described and a dynamic side which refers to a move-
ment following an imaginary zigzagged line.
The line is both continuous and changing: it has alternating orientations with
respect to the two imaginary parallel lines. This means that the intertwining of
continuity and change is the main characteristic feature of this morphological
pattern. This point can be shown in the following scheme:
continuity
Z_G + Z¬_G
change
I / A
O F S
When identifying a reduplicative expression as an iconic instantiation of this
PRO
pattern, a distinction between primary and secondary iconicity (Sonesson 2008)
E D
must be kept in mind. There are reduplicative expressions that are not iconic in
C T
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 69
their origin but acquire a certain degree of iconicity because of its phonological
configuration. These expressions can be borrowings from other languages or can
be produced by phonological changes that make them amenable to an iconic inter-
pretation. In these cases, we have a secondary or derived iconicity. As an example
of this phenomenon, Anscombre (1986: 171) mentions the French word micmac
‘dirty trick, fraud’. This word is not an example of AR in its origins since it is a
borrowing from medieval Dutch muitmaken ‘to rebel, to revolt, to rise’ (in modern
Dutch muiten ‘to rebel, to revolt’). Once integrated in the French lexicon, it has
been reanalyzed as an AR, and its meaning, related to a disordered or more or less
chaotic movement, can be easily assimilated to its meaning pattern by means of
the A3 semantic shift introduced in this section. Some of the examples listed in
the following sections could belong to this category.
4. Sound iconicity in AR
The imitation of the sound made by footsteps is also a good candidate for an AR
meaning since there is continuity and feet alternation:
(2) English AR expressions conveying the sound of steps (Thun 1963: 52): Flip-flop
‘the sound of a regular footfall’; pid-pad ‘imitation of the dull sound of foot-
steps’; pit-a-pát, pit-pat ‘imitation of the sound of light or rapid footsteps, or of
similar alternating or reiterated sounds’; plit-plat ‘expressive of the sound made
by a horse’s hoofs as it trots along the road’; tíck-tóck “the sound of resounding
footsteps”; tri-trot ‘a word imitating the sound of trotting’
O F S
D
Examples of this type of AR can also be found in Romance languages:
T E PRO
C
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
70 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
The final Castilian Spanish word is similar to the English AR expression: rip-rap
‘an imitation of the sound caused by a rapid succession of blows’ (Thun 1963: 55).
The tic-tac AR found in the Romance languages iconically suggests the noise
made by clocks. Following Grammont (1901), this expression mimics the alternat-
ing movement of a pendulum by means of consonant reduplication and the slight
sound differences associated with it by means of vowel alternation:
Le balancier fait entendre en réalité deux petits bruits secs qui forcément diffèrent
un peu l’un de l’autre ; c’est cette différence qui est marquée par la modulations
que produisent les deux voyelles i et a. La répétition de ces deux sillabes analogues
qui commencent et finissent de même marque que le bruit est répété. Les deux
voyelles, extrêmement brèves et sèches, peignent bien un bruit bref et sec. Cette
qualité est encore accentuée par les deux occlusives sourdes qui ouvrent et fer-
ment chaque sillabe. C’est donc une onomatopée parfaite, mais ce n’est pas une
reproduction exacte des bruits qu’elle imite. (Grammont 1901: 99) 4
To this explanation of the French tic-tac by Grammont it could be added that the
vowel alternation can also be interpreted as an imitation of the pendulum move-
ment and that this movement is mimicked by the displacement of the tongue from
a front position (that of the t phoneme) to a back position (that of the k phoneme).
Bells produce their sound by a swinging movement of the clapper; this is sim-
ilar to the pendulum movement of a clock. In several languages, AR expressions
are used to mimic the sound of bells:
(4) French (García de Diego 1965: 308): drindran, drindron ‘sound made by bells’
4. “The pendulum in fact produces two dull and weak sounds that slightly differ from each other
by necessity. This difference is signaled by the modulations produced by the two vowels i and a.
F S
The repetition of the two syllables with the same beginning and ending conveys the repetition of
PRO O
the sound. The two brief and weak vowels fit well into a dull and weak sound. These associations
are further reinforced by the two voiceless stops opening and closing each syllable. Therefore,
T E D
it is a perfect onomatopoeia, but it is not an exact reproduction of the sounds it mimics.” My
C
O R R E LISHING C
translation.
O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 71
The sound made by bells (including cowbells) is mimicked in Basque in the fol-
lowing AR expressions:
(6) Basque (Santisteban 2007: 281; Ibarretxe-Antuñano 2007): bilinbi-balamba,
binban, binba-banba, binbi-banba, binbili(n)-banbala(n), binbili-bonbolo,
brin-bran; ddinddin-ddanddan, 5 dilin-dala, dilin-dalan, dilin-dolon, din-dan,
dinbi-danba, dinbili-danbala, dinbilin-danbalan, dindi-danda, dingi-danga,
dingindin-dangandan, dulun eta dalan, tilin-talan, tilin-tolon, tinki-tanka
In English there are also several AR expressions mimicking the ringing of bells:
bim-bom, ding-dong, lin-lan-lone (chime of three bells), tingle-tangle (Thun
1965: 60).
Other types of alternating sounds can also be conveyed by AR:
(7) AR expressions conveying sound (García de Diego 1965: 411): Catalan clic-
clac ‘noise made by the impact of two objects’; tifa-tafa ‘tic-tac, mainly heart
beating’; tip-tap ‘heart beat’; triquitrac ‘noise of repeated beats’. French clic-clac
‘sound made by the lash of a whip’. English click-clack ‘succession of beats’. Dutch
klikklakken ‘rumbling’. Trictrac is also found in Rumanian and French
O F S
T E D PRO
C
O R R E LISHING C
5. Double consonants in Basque signal palatalization.
O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
72 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
e. Beating, hitting, slapping: tis-tas ‘heart beating’; tiki eta taka ‘to hit’; trin-
bilin-tranbalan ‘hitting’; zipirt eta zapart ‘hitting, beating’; zipirt-zapart
‘to throw punches left, right and center’; zifri-zafra ‘beating, shaking’;
tri-tra ‘to beat’; xirti-xartaka ‘to kick a ball around’; kri-kra ‘strumming’;
tingili-dangala ‘to crash’; ris(t)-ras(t), sisti-sasta ‘to burst, sting, punch’
f. Cutting, grinding, tearing: klix-klax ‘to cut’; krink-krank ‘grinding,
squeaking’; sirrist-sarrast ‘to tear, rip’; zirrist-zarrast ‘to tear’
g. Biting, chewing, gnawing: klisk-klask ‘to clang’, bite’; kirriki-karraka,
kirrisk-karrask ‘to gnaw’; gliski-glaska ‘to bite’; ñiska-ñaska ‘to chew’
h. Animal sounds: ji eta jau ‘barking’; hi ha ‘to neigh’; kirrink-kurrunk
‘cooing’; xifi-xafa ‘cicada’
i. Miscellaneous sounds: dzirt-dzart ‘bim bam’; pli-pla ‘boom’; birrin-
bi-barranba, birrinbili-barranbala ‘with a loud crash’; dinbi-danba ‘shot,
thrash, sound of the small drum’; gliska-glaska ‘sound of cutting hair’;
sirrin-sarran, zirris-zarras ‘sound of saw’; tinpa-tanpa ‘continuous shots’;
tringili-trangala ‘rattle’; xirti-xarta ‘whipping’; klin-klan ‘sound of a mill-
stone’; tinki-tanka ‘hammering, slamming’; zirti-zarta ‘slashing, hacking’;
tiki-taka ‘tick-tock’; zinbi-zanba ‘slam, bang’; birrimili-barramala ‘rum-
bling’; xilipirta-xalaparta ‘making a racket, a row’
In the different examples listed above we can see that, in a majority of cases, the
Basque AR expressions refer to a repetition of a varying sound produced by a con-
tinuous action in which there is some type of change or alternation, as can be seen
in the actions of chewing, gnawing, biting, slapping, grinding, tearing, sawing,
drumming and shaking. For example, the Basque AR expression zipirt-zapart
‘to throw punches left, right and center’ or xirti-xarta(ka) ‘to kick a ball around’,
gliska-glaska ‘sound of cutting hair’, sirrin-sarran, zirris-zarras ‘sound of saw’
involve a repetitive action with some directional changes or alternating targets.
Some of the above Basque AR expressions denote splashing. This use can also
be found in other languages. For instance, the following ARs from French and
Provenzal:
(9) French and Provenzal AR expressions for splashing: Picard dialect: flique-flaque
‘splashing’; Provenzal: flic-flac, flic-floc ‘splashing’
O F
through the waves. The sounds produced by these actions are both continuous
S
PRO
and vary in intensity and quality. This process can also be spontaneous as in the
E D
sound of splashing waves.
C T
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 73
O F S
PRO
6. These two verbs are synonyms. Rozhanskij points out that they are derived from the tɨsh-tash
D
AR expression (2011: 211).
C T E
O R R E LISHING C
7. Turkic people in the Kemerovo Oblast in Russia also known as Kutzneskie Tatars.
O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
74 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
(13) ARs conveying talk in Romance languages (Riera and Sanjaume 2011: 164, 219):
Castilian Spanish: patatín-patatán ‘clever arguments or excuses”; Catalan: pata-
tim patatam patatum ‘an idle conversation’; tipitip tipitap ‘insistent, monotone
and annoying talk’; French: patati, patata, pataton patata ‘long chatter
These examples show the negative character of the speech actions denoted by
the AR expression. This is easily explained by the semantic shift C2 proposed by
Fischer (2011: 67), privileging the negative aspects of babbling and stuttering. In
addition, this semantic shift makes it possible to extend the denotation of this AR
pattern to other negative forms of speech not directly related to babbling as idle
talk or gossip.
In some of these forms of speech a secondary iconicity can also be proposed.
For example, in stammering, the continuity of speech is suddenly interrupted by
the involuntary repetition or prolongation of a sound, a syllable or a word; there
are also silent pauses. In addition, idle talk and gossip are clearly related and can
be characterized as an empty or unnecessary conversation. They usually contain
unnecessary repetitions and uninformative changes. These characteristics make
the corresponding AR expressions amenable to a secondary iconic interpretation
based on continuity and change.
In English, bartering can also be conveyed by AR expressions:
(15) English AR expressions conveying bartering and haggling (Thun 1963: 141–
142): Chiff-chaff ‘In a schoolboy formula solemnly ratifying an exchange of
property’; higgle-haggle ‘to haggle’; tiggle-taggle ‘to be tedious in making a
bargain; to haggle’; trick-track ‘intercourse, dealings; trade, business, traffic’
F S
exchange, there is an intertwining between continuity and change: there are two
O
PRO
actions of giving and receiving, and different goods or objects are involved in those
D
actions. These actions are almost always accompanied by linguistic expressions
C T E
and sentences. In fact, haggling is a back and forth verbal battle between a vendor
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 75
and a customer: there is repetition and change throughout these types of verbal
exchange, so AR is iconically adequate to convey this meaning.
Retaliation is also a type of exchange. Therefore, AR expressions denoting
this action can be found, although in this case no sound is necessarily involved.
In English there are some AR expressions related to this notion:
(16) English AR expressions conveying retaliation (Thun 1963: 142): Lill for loll ‘to
retaliate’; tick for tack ‘tit for tat’; tint for tant ‘retaliation, retort in kind’; tip for
tap ‘thrust for thrust (in fencing)’; tit for tat ‘one blow or stroke in return for
another’; wicker for wacker , wicket for wacket ‘tit for tat’
5. Movement iconicity in AR
flopperty
b. Wagging: wiggery-waggery, wiggle-waggle, wiggly-waggly, wig-wag,
wriggle-wraggle
c. Swinging: pip-pop, swig-swag, wigglety-wagglety
d. See-saw: shig-shog, shoogle-shaggle, titter-totter, titter-tatter, swing-swang,
quee-quaw, see-saw
e. Nodding and bobbing: niddle-naddle, niddle-noddle, nid-nod
f. Trembling and unsteadiness: didder-dadder, didder-dodder, niddle-
noddle, pintle-pantle, shig-shog, titter-totter, whiltie-whaltie, wibble-wob-
ble, wib-wob, widdle-waddle, wimbly-wambly, wingle-wangle
g. Walking and running: jitty-jetty, neck-nack, stip-step
h. Limping, hopping and jogging: chick-chock, hiphop, hippety-hoppety,
jidderty-jadderty
In both dangling and flapping, there is a repeated movement going in two direc-
tions. This meaning can be easily derived from the combination of the two main
notions associated with AR: continuity and change.
Wagging refers to a brisk and repeated movement from side to side that can
S
be found in several English ARs as, for example, wig-wag “to move slightly to and
fro”, specially used for denoting a waving flag. This meaning can be easily seen as
O F
PRO
an instance of the continuity plus change notion associated with ARs.
C T E D
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
76 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
F S
8. Conradie (2003: 207–208) points out that games are essentially repetitive and that redupli-
PRO O
cation is used to denote some of them in Afrikaans: aan-aan (lit. ‘on-on’), a touch game, klip-
klip (‘pebble-pebble’), a game involving the repeated handling of a pebble, huisie-huisie (‘little
T E D
house-little house’), in which domestic life is enacted.
C
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 77
O F S
T E D PRO
C
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
78 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
S
In these examples, AR is used to express a regular and uneven precipitation of
O F
snowflakes, as in the case of snowing, or to convey a combination of falling and
PRO
rolling. In both cases, we have an interaction between continuity and change in a
T E D
descending movement. In addition, semantic shift A3 can be applied to the inter-
C
O R R E LISHING C
ANY
pretation of the reduplicative part of each one the corresponding ARs.
O M P
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 79
O F S
PRO
We can observe here that, like in the Basque case, carelessness, vacillation, confu-
T E D
sion and sloppiness are frequently conveyed by AR expressions.
C
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
80 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
Here are some of the examples of English ARs conveying games included in Thun’s
list:
(29) English AR expressions conveying games (Thun 1963: 158–160): bittle-battle,
criss-cross, fid-fad, heezie-hozie, meepy-moppy, kít-cat, niddy-noddy, ping-pong,
titbo-tatbo
S
imitating the purring of a cat used in a game’; trin-tron ‘onomatopoetic words
O F
used in the hide-and-seek game’; txilin-txalan, txin-txan-txon ‘words used in
PRO
a child game’; txist eta txost ‘card game’; ikusi-makusi, ikusi-mukusi ‘I-spy’
C T E D
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 81
A game is a competitive activity in which two or more players contend with each
other according to a set of rules. AR expressions are frequently used in order to
convey children’s games. In a game there is continuity, alternation and change
and, as a consequence, this use of AR expressions is also in tune with the analysis
proposed here.
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
O F S
D PRO
Thanks are due to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable observations and suggestions.
T E
C
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
82 Juan C. Moreno Cabrera
References
Anscombre, J. C. 1986. Onomatopées, délocutivité et autres blablas. Revue Romane 20(2): 169–207.
Bolinger, D. L. 1965. Forms of English. Accent, Morpheme, Order. Cambridge MA: Harvard
University Press.
Conradie, C. J. 2003. The iconicity of Afrikaans reduplication. In From Sign to Signing [Iconicity
in Language and Literature 3], W. G. Müller & O. Fischer (eds), 203–224. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/ill.3.16con
Fischer, O. 2011. Cognitive iconic grounding of reduplication in language. In Semblance and
Signification [Iconicity in Language & Literature 10], P. Michelucci, O. Fischer & C. Ljungberg
(eds), 55–81. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/ill.10.04fis
García de Diego, V. 1968. Diccionario de voces naturales (A Dictionary of Natural Words). Madrid:
Aguilar.
Grammont, M. 1901. Onomatopées et mots expressifs. Revue des Langues Romaines 44: 97–158.
Hladký, J. 1998. Notes on reduplicative words in English. Sborník Prací Filozofické Fakulty
Brnĕnské Univerzity, Brno Studies in English 24: 33–78.
Hu, Z. 2011. Imagic iconicity in the Chinese language. In Semblance and Signification [Iconicity
in Language & Literature 10], P. Michelucci, O. Fischer & C. Ljungberg (eds), 83–99.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/ill.10.05hu
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I. 2006. Sound Symbolism and Motion in Basque. Munich: Lincom.
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I. 2007. Hizkuntzaren bihotzean: Euskal onomatopeien hiztegia (At the Heart
of Language: A Dictionary of Basque Onomatopoeias). Donostia: Gaiak.
Jakobson, R. & Waugh, L. R. 2002. The Sound Shape of Language, 3rd edn. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110889451
Jespersen, O. 1933. Symbolic value of the vowel I. In Selected Writings of Otto Jespersen, 557–578.
London: George Allen & Unwin.
Mikone, E. 2001. Ideophones in the Balto-Finnic languages. In Ideophones [Typological Studies
in Language 44], F. K. Erhard Voeltz & C. Kilian-Hatz (eds), 223–234. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/tsl.44.18mik
Minkova, D. 2002. Ablaut reduplication in English: The criss-crossing of prosody and verbal art.
English Language and Linguistics 6(1): 133–169. doi: 10.1017/S1360674302001077
Moreno Cabrera, J. C. 2014. Zig-zag: Fundamentos icónicos. In Homenatge a Sebastià Serrano,
M. A. Martí & M. Taulé (eds), 217–232. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona.
oscillate. 〈www.dictionary.com/browse/oscillate〉 (29 November 2016).
Paul, H. 1920. Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
Pott, A. F. 1862. Doppelung (Reduplikation, Gemination) als eines der wichtigsten Bildungsmittel der
Sprache beleuchtet aus Sprachen aller Welttheile. Lemgo-Detmold: Verlage der Meyerschen
Hofbuchhandlung.
Riera, M. & Sanjaume, M. 2011. Diccionari d’onomatopeies i mots de creació expressiva
(A Dictionary of Onomatopoeias and Expressive Words). Barcelona: Educaula.
Rozhanskij, F. I. 2011. Reduplikatsija. Opyt tipologicheskogo issledovanija (Reduplication.
A Typological Investigation). Moskva: Znak.
O F S
Santisteban, K. 2007. Onomatopeia eta adierazpen hotsen hiztegia (A Dictionary of Onomatopoeias
PRO
and Expressive Sounds). Bilbao: Mensajero.
C T E D
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs
Continuity and change 83
Author Query
Please provide the reference for this citation ‘(Thun 1965)’ of this chapter.Please
provide the reference for this citation ‘(de Diego 1965)’ of this chapter.
O F S
T E D PRO
C
O R R E LISHING C O M P ANY
U ONH NCB E N J A M I N S P U B
©J
1st proofs