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In:Dimensions of Iconicity
Edited by Angelika Zirker, Matthias Bauer, Olga Fischer and Christina Ljungberg
[Iconicity in Language and Literature 15] 2017
► pp. 15–38

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Iconic treadmill hypothesis

The reasons behind continuous onomatopoeic coinage

 | St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University ‘LETI’
Published online: 8 September 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.15.02fla
The paper deals with the process of iconicity loss and touches upon the enigma of iconic words’ continuous and persistent appearance in languages all over the globe. The hypothesis introduced aims at explaining the reasons behind the never-ceasing iconic coinage. The paper also presents a universal four-step model of iconicity loss.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The iconic treadmill hypothesis
  • 3.The iconic lexicon: Some explanatory notes on onomatopoeia, sound symbolism, phonesthemes, and ideophones
    • 3.1Onomatopoeic words
    • 3.2Sound symbolic words
    • 3.3Phonesthemic sound symbolism
    • 3.4Ideophones
  • 4.The de-iconization process
    • 4.1De-iconization of form
    • 4.2De-iconization of meaning
    • 4.3Stages of de-iconization
  • 5.Rates of de-iconization and new iconic coinage: The iconic treadmill
  • 6.The driving force for the iconic treadmill
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
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