The poetry of sound and the sound of poetry

Navajo poetry, phonological iconicity, and linguistic relativity

Bibliographic Data

ID4474463
AuthorsA Webster (0000-0002-7083-6087, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author), Anthony K Webster
Year2015
Volume2015
Issue207
Publication date2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSemiotica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-1998 • E-ISSN: 1613-3692
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/sem-2015-0065
OpenAlexW2562062813
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited53

This article takes seriously Edward Sapir's observation about poetry as an example of linguistic relativity. Taking my cue from Dwight Bolinger's "word affinities," this article reports on the ways sounds of poetry evoke and convoke imaginative possibilities through phonological iconicity. In working with Navajos in translating poetry, I have come to appreciate the sound suggestiveness of that poetry and the imaginative possibilities that are bound up in the sounds of Navajo. It seems that just such sound suggestiveness via phonological iconicity and the ways they orient our imaginations are a crucial locus for thinking through linguistic relativities

Iconicity · Navajo · Sound symbolism · Categorization, perception, and language · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Multisensory perception and integration

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