ideophone
English
editEtymology
editFrom ideo- + -phone. James F. Fordyce (The Ideophone as a Phonosemantic Class: The Case of Yoruba, in Current approaches to African linguistics, Ivan R. Dihoff (ed.), page 263) credits C. M. Doke with introducing the term in 1935.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɪ.di.(j)ə(ʊ)ˌfəʊn/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
editideophone (plural ideophones)
- (grammar) A word that uses sound symbolism to express aspects of events that can be experienced by the senses, like smell, color, shape, sound, action, or movement.
- 1969 October, William J. Samarin, The Art of Gbeya Insults, in International Journal of American Linguistics 35(4), page 325, JSTOR
- In insults the ideophone occurs either in its characteristic position, the verb phrase, or uncharacteristically as a modifier in a noun phrase.
- 1969 October, William J. Samarin, The Art of Gbeya Insults, in International Journal of American Linguistics 35(4), page 325, JSTOR
Derived terms
editTranslations
editsound symbolic word
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