The sound symbolism of food
The frequency of initial /PA-/ in words for (staple) food
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10293307 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian Joo (0000-0001-7678-1227, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University , Kowloon , Hong Kong, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 33-46 |
| Publication date | 2023-01-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/ling-2021-0127 |
| PMID | 36705914 |
| OpenAlex | W4280599048 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 35 |
In different languages around the world, morphemes representing the (cooked form of) staple food or food in general tend to begin with a [+labial] phoneme followed by a [+low] phoneme (/pa-/, /ma-/, /fa-/, /wa-/, etc.). This article provides evidence for this phonological similarity by analyzing 66 sample languages’ morphemes representing the staple food within the society where each language is spoken. About a fourth of the morphemes referring to staple food begin with a [+labial] first phoneme followed by a [+low] second phoneme, which is a much higher proportion compared to another list of basic morphemes in the same 66 languages. I further argue that the motivation for this crosslinguistic tendency is the iconic association between the mouth-opening gesture and the concept of eating
Gesture · Image (mathematics) · Linguistics · Morpheme · Similarity (geometry) · Sound change · Staple food · Artificial Intelligence · Categorization, perception, and language · Computer Science · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Multisensory perception and integration · Philosophy · Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |