LL-L "Etymology" 2007.06.26 (05) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  25 June 2007 - Volume 05

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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology"

Beste Ron,

You wrote:

> What I find particularly interesting in the mentioned group of words
> is that there are signs of the existence of very early associations of
> "bright (color)," "shiny" and "strident (noise)."

"Sound symbolism" is the name of the game (synesthesia in a broader
context). I found some stunning results on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_symbolism

(notably the universal Bouba/Kiki effect where 95 to 98 % of any sample
of people will relate Bouba to a round form and Kiki to a sharp one)

In other words: meanings do (somewhat) correlate to the shape of the
words. One of the most prominent scientists in this field is Vilayanur
S. Ramachandran. Regarding the origin of language, he advocates the
Ta-ta hypothesis (signing > speaking).

Personally, I like the Yo-he-ho explanation: language as an elaborated
"work song". It seems to me that the urge to (re)create rhythmic sound
patterns (music if you will) is pretty basic and more importantly, nót
exclusive to homo sapiens.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx
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