The area of sound symbolism has been the subject of linguistic investigation throughout the twentieth century. These linguistic studies, which have generally involved detailed analyses of the meanings connoted by individual phonemes both within and across languages and of their morphological status, have tended to present sound symbolism as an area which is prone to subjectivity (see Allan 1986, 250 for a summary). As a result it is an area which is regarded with suspicion in applied fields. The article is in 2 parts. The first (1.0 ff.) seeks to revive the interest of psycholinguists in the phenomenon fo sound symbolism by using a limited theoretical definition – the concept of phoaesthesia developed by Firth (1930). A “spreading activation” model (par.2 ff.) is suggested to account for the recognition of phonaesthetic effects in L1. The second part (par.3), an experimental study based on the theoretical and working definition of phonaesthesia set out in 1.0. examines Italian students’ judgements of the connotations of objectively tested English “phonaesthemes”. The results show that L2 students are generally sensitive to phonaesthetic effects even at an elementary level. They initially adopt a contrastive strategy using phonological cues only and work towards a progressively more semantic strategy in the course of language learning.

Applied psycholinguistic models of English phonaesthetic effects in L1 and L2: a theoretical and experimental study

Bowles H
1995-01-01

Abstract

The area of sound symbolism has been the subject of linguistic investigation throughout the twentieth century. These linguistic studies, which have generally involved detailed analyses of the meanings connoted by individual phonemes both within and across languages and of their morphological status, have tended to present sound symbolism as an area which is prone to subjectivity (see Allan 1986, 250 for a summary). As a result it is an area which is regarded with suspicion in applied fields. The article is in 2 parts. The first (1.0 ff.) seeks to revive the interest of psycholinguists in the phenomenon fo sound symbolism by using a limited theoretical definition – the concept of phoaesthesia developed by Firth (1930). A “spreading activation” model (par.2 ff.) is suggested to account for the recognition of phonaesthetic effects in L1. The second part (par.3), an experimental study based on the theoretical and working definition of phonaesthesia set out in 1.0. examines Italian students’ judgements of the connotations of objectively tested English “phonaesthemes”. The results show that L2 students are generally sensitive to phonaesthetic effects even at an elementary level. They initially adopt a contrastive strategy using phonological cues only and work towards a progressively more semantic strategy in the course of language learning.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11369/379373
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