[Lingtyp] Pronominal nasality and the areality of iconicity

[David Gil]

Dear Ian and all,

A somewhat different example of the areal diffusion of an iconic pattern 
is discussed in https://wlp.shh.mpg.de/4/abstracts/ArnoldGil.pdf: here's 
the first paragraph from the abstract:

This paper presents some preliminary explorations into the ideophone 
eeeH and related forms occurring in (at least) three languages of West 
Papua: Papuan Malay, Ambel (an Austronesian language of Raja Ampat) and 
Roon (an Austronesian language of the Cenderawasih Bay). Phonetically, 
eeeH consists of an extra-long front mid vowel [e] associated with a 
high or high falling pitch contour. Semantically, eeeH expresses 
excessivity, typically with respect to literal or metaphorical distance; 
in addition, it endows the utterance with greater vividness and 
expressivity.


In this example, iconicity is provided by the extra-long vowel and the 
high pitch contour, associated with excessivity and expressivity.  
Although all three languages discussed are Austronesian, the paper 
argues that the distribution of the ideophone is an areal characteristic 
of a small region of New Guinea, and spread via diffusion.

During the recent ALS conference in Sydney, I learned that the iconic 
component of the above ideophone is also present in many languages of 
Australia, so its areal distribution is apparently much wider.

David



On 11/02/2018 14:42, JOO Ian wrote:
>
> Dear fellow members of the mailing list,
>
> Gordon (1995) and Nichols & Peterson (1996) confirm that nasals are 
> frequent in 1^st and 2^nd person pronouns around the world, but 
> different continent prefer different nasals for each pronoun: Eurasian 
> languages prefer /m/ for the 1^st pronoun, whereas the “Pacific Rim” 
> prefers /m/ for the 2^nd pronoun, and the initial /ŋ-/ is prevalent in 
> Australian languages.
>
> Nichols and Peterson conjectured that this may be the cause of "areal 
> relatedness due to diffusion of phonosymbolic canons”. That is, iconic 
> patterns may be diffused throughout languages, not just independently 
> emerge from each language. The example they add is the system of 
> /mama/ and /papa/:
>
> In personal pronoun systems, /n/ and /m/can be said to mark different 
> dimensions of a minimal deictic space. They do so as well in 
> 'mama-papa' systems (which are deictic but not shifters). Both the 
> pronouns and the child-language kin terms use consonants 
> phonosymbolically to structure deictic space; the phonosymbolic 
> principles are macroareal (/mama/ and /papa/, for instance, being 
> distinctly western Eurasian forms); but the actual pronouns and kin 
> terms themselves are not commonly borrowed. (p. 358)
>
> I wonder if you have any other examples of iconic patterns areally 
> spreading throughout specific regions, other than pronominal nasality 
> and kinship terms. I would greatly appreciate your help, as this is 
> relevant for my thesis.
>
> From Daejeon, Korea,
>
> Ian Joo
>
> http://ianjoo.academia.edu
>
> References
>
> Gordon, Matthew J. "The phonological composition of personal pronouns: 
> implications for genetic hypotheses." /Annual Meeting of the Berkeley 
> Linguistics Society/. Vol. 21. No. 1. 1995.
>
> Nichols, Johanna, and David A. Peterson. "The Amerind personal 
> pronouns." /Language/ (1996): 336-371.
>
>
>
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-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany

Email: gil at shh.mpg.de
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816

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