1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Gesture
  4. Volume 19, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 19, Issue 2-3
  • ISSN 1568-1475
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9773
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Using data from the Northern Pastaza (qvc) and Upper Napo Quichua (quw) dialects of Amazonian Ecuador, this paper argues that the semantics of ideophones, a highly marked form class of expressive words, is principled and describable with a combination of sensori-semantic features and a fine-grained typology of gestures, based on insights from Streeck (2008) and others. Specifically, ideophones’ sensori-semantics are broken down into a semantic map consisting of 3 super- and 7 subcategorical distinctions. The greater the number of categories encoded by an ideophone’s semantics, the greater are the range of gestures used. Finally, gesture types identified by Streeck (2008) and others, were found among a very different group of people who are not western, educated, industrialized, rich, or democratic. Further research into ideophones and their gestures may find broader significance for ideophone semantics, and more generally, for the interrelations between language and gesture.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/gest.20005.nuc
2021-09-28
2025-04-23

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/gest.20005.nuc
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alexandre, Pierre
    (1966) Préliminaire à une présentation des idéophones Bulu. InJ. Lukas. (Ed.), Neue afrikanische Studien (pp.9–28). Hamburg: Deutsches Institut für Afrika-Forschung.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bauman, Richard
    (1984) Verbal art as performance. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bodomo, Adams
    (2006) The structure of ideophones in African and Asian languages: The case of Dagaare and Cantonese. InJohn Mugane, John P. Hutchison, & Dee A. Worman. (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: African Languages and Linguistics in Broad Perspectives (pp.203–213). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Cassell, Justine & McNeill, David
    (1990) Gesture and ground. Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (pp.57–68). 10.3765/bls.v16i0.1689
     https://doi.org/10.3765/bls.v16i0.1689 [Google Scholar]
  5. Clark, Herbert H.
    (2019) Depicting in communication. InPeter Hagoort. (Ed.), Human language: From genes and brains to behavior (pp.235–245). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. de Ruiter, Jan Peter
    (2000) The production of gesture and speech. InDavid McNeill. (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp.284–311). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511620850.018
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620850.018 [Google Scholar]
  7. de Schryver, Gilles-M.
    (2009) The Lexicographic Treatment of Ideophones in Zulu. Lexicos, 19, 34–54. 10.4314/lex.v19i1.49068
     https://doi.org/10.4314/lex.v19i1.49068 [Google Scholar]
  8. Dingemanse, Mark
    (2012) Advances in the cross-linguistic study of ideophones. Language and Linguistics Compass, 6 (10), 654–672. 10.1002/lnc3.361
     https://doi.org/10.1002/lnc3.361 [Google Scholar]
  9. (2013) Ideophones and gesture in everyday speech. Gesture, 13, 143–165. doi:  10.1075/gest.13.2.02din
     https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.13.2.02din [Google Scholar]
  10. (2015) Folk definitions in linguistic fieldwork. InJames Essegbey, Brent Henderson, & Fiona McLaughlin. (Eds.), Language documentation and endangerment in Africa (pp.215–238). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi:  10.1075/clu.17.09din
     https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.17.09din [Google Scholar]
  11. Dingemanse, Mark & Akita, Kimi
    (2017) An inverse relation between expressiveness and grammatical integration: On the morphosyntactic typology of ideophones, with special reference to Japanese. Journal of Linguistics, 53 (3), 501–532. 10.1017/S002222671600030X
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S002222671600030X [Google Scholar]
  12. Goodman, Nelson
    (1968) Languages of art: An approach to the theory of symbols. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Gumperz, John J.
    (1982) Contextualization conventions. InJohn J. Gumperz, Discourse strategies (Chapter 6, pp.130–152). New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511611834.008
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611834.008 [Google Scholar]
  14. Hatton, Sarah
    (2016) The onomatopoetic ideophone-gesture relationship in Pastaza Quichua. MA Thesis, Department of Linguistics and English Language, Brigham Young University.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Henrich, Joseph, Heine, Steven J., Norenzayan, Ara
    (2010) The weirdest people in the world?Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33 (2/3), 61–83. doi:  10.1017/S0140525X0999152X
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X [Google Scholar]
  16. Ibarretxe Antuñano, Iraide
    (2006) Ttipa-ttapa ttipi-ttapa… korrika!!! Motion and sound symbolism in Basque. Anuario del seminario de filología vasca ‘Julio de Urchijo’ / International Journal of Basque Linguistics and Philology, 40, 499–518.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Kendon, Adam
    (2004) Gesture: Visible action as utterance. New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511807572
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511807572 [Google Scholar]
  18. Kita, Sotaro
    (1993) Language and thought interface: a study of spontaneous gestures and Japanese mimetics. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. (1997) Two-dimensional semantic analysis of Japanese mimetics. Linguistics, 35 (2), 379–416. 10.1515/ling.1997.35.2.379
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1997.35.2.379 [Google Scholar]
  20. (2000) How representational gestures help speaking. InDavid McNeill. (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp.162–185). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511620850.011
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620850.011 [Google Scholar]
  21. Klassen, Doreen H.
    (1998) “You can’t have silence with your palms up”: ideophones, gesture, and iconicity in Zimbabwean Shona women’s ngano (storysong) performance. Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Kunene, Daniel
    (2001) Speaking the act: the ideophone as linguistic rebel. InF. K. Erhard Voeltz & Christa Kilian-Hatz. (Eds.), Ideophones (pp.183–192). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.44.15kun
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.44.15kun [Google Scholar]
  23. Kunene, Daniel P.
    (1965) The ideophone in Southern Sotho. Journal of African Languages, 4, 19–39.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Levinson, Stephen C.
    (2003) Contextualizing ‘contextualization cues’. InSusan L. Eerdmans, Carlo L. Prevignano, & Paul J. Thibault. (Eds.), Language and interaction: Discussions with John J. Gumperz (pp.31–39). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/z.117.04lev
     https://doi.org/10.1075/z.117.04lev [Google Scholar]
  25. McClave, Evelyn
    (1994) Gestural beats: The rhythm hypothesis. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 23 (1), 45–66. 10.1007/BF02143175
     https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02143175 [Google Scholar]
  26. McNeill, David
    (1992) Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. (2000) Catchments and contexts: non-modular factors in speech and gesture production. InDavid McNeill. (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp.312–328). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511620850.019
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620850.019 [Google Scholar]
  28. Mezzenzana, Francesca
    (2018) Moving alike: movement and human–nonhuman relationships among the Runa (Ecuadorian Amazon). Social Anthropology, 26 (2), 238–252. doi:  10.1111/1469‑8676.12486
     https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12486 [Google Scholar]
  29. Mihas, Elena
    (2013) Composite ideophone-gesture utterances in the Ashéninka Perené ‘community of practice’, an Amazonian Arawak society from Central-Eastern Peru. Gesture, 13 (1), 28–62. 10.1075/gest.13.1.02mih
     https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.13.1.02mih [Google Scholar]
  30. Morris, Desmond
    (1977) Manwatching. A field guide to human behaviour. London: Jonathan Cape.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Moshi, Lioba
    (1993) Ideophones in KiVunjo-Chaga. Journal of linguistic Anthropology, 3 (2), 185–216. 10.1525/jlin.1993.3.2.185
     https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.1993.3.2.185 [Google Scholar]
  32. Nuckolls, Janis
    (1996) Sounds like life: Sound-symbolic grammar, performance, and cognition in Pastaza Quechua. New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. (2000) Spoken in the spirit of gesture: Translating sound symbolism in a Quechua narrative. InJoel Sherzer & Kay Sammons. (Eds.), Translating native Latin American verbal art (pp.233–251). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. (2014) Ideophones’ challenges for typological linguistics: The case of Pastaza Quichua. Pragmatics and Society, 5 (3), 355–383. 10.1075/ps.5.3.03nuc
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.5.3.03nuc [Google Scholar]
  35. (2019) The sensori-semantic clustering of ideophonic meaning in Pastaza Quichua. InKimi Akita & Prashant Pardeshi. (Eds.), Ideophones and linguistic theories. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/ill.16.08nuc
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.16.08nuc [Google Scholar]
  36. Nuckolls, Janis B. & Swanson, Tod D.
    (2014) Earthy Concreteness and Anti-Hypotheticalism in Amazonian Quichua Discourse. Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, 12 (1), 48–60.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Nuckolls, Janis, Stanley, Joseph, Hopper, Roseanne, & Nielsen, Elizabeth
    (2016) The systematic stretching and contracting of ideophonic phonology in Pastaza Quichua. International Journal of American Linguistics, 82 (1), 95–116. 10.1086/684425
     https://doi.org/10.1086/684425 [Google Scholar]
  38. O’Meara, Carolyn, Smythe Kung, Susan, & Majid, Asifa
    (2019) The challenge of olfactory ideophones: Reconsidering ineffability from the Totonac-Tepehua perspective. International Journal of American Linguistics, 85 (2), 173–212. 10.1086/701801
     https://doi.org/10.1086/701801 [Google Scholar]
  39. Ortega, Gerardo & Özyürek, Aslı
    (2020) Systematic mappings between semantic categories and types of iconic representations in the manual modality: A normed database of silent gesture. Behavior Research Methods, 52, 51–67. doi:  10.3758/s13428‑019‑01204‑6
     https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01204-6 [Google Scholar]
  40. Patel, A. D.
    (2006) Musical rhythm, linguistic rhythm, and human evolution. Music Perception, 24, 99–104. 10.1525/mp.2006.24.1.99
     https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2006.24.1.99 [Google Scholar]
  41. Quechuarealwords: An audiovisual corpus of expressive Quechua ideophones
    Quechuarealwords: An audiovisual corpus of expressive Quechua ideophones. quechuarealwords.byu.edu/
  42. Reiter, Sabine
    (2013) Ideophones in Awetí. Doctoral dissertation, Christian Albrechts University, Kiel.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Rhee, Seongha & Hyun, Jung Koo
    (2017) Multifaceted gustation. Terminology, 23 (1), 38–65. doi:  10.1075/term.23.1.02rhe
     https://doi.org/10.1075/term.23.1.02rhe [Google Scholar]
  44. Samarin, William J.
    (1965) Perspective on African ideophones. African Studies, 24 (2), 117–121. 10.1080/00020186508707214
     https://doi.org/10.1080/00020186508707214 [Google Scholar]
  45. (1971) Survey of Bantu ideophones. African Language Studies, 12, 130–168.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Streeck, Jürgen
    (2008) Depicting by gesture. Gesture, 8 (3), 285–301. 10.1075/gest.8.3.02str
     https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.8.3.02str [Google Scholar]
  47. Wehling, Elizabeth
    (2017) Discourse management gestures. Gesture, 16 (2), 245–276. 10.1075/gest.16.2.04weh
     https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.16.2.04weh [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/gest.20005.nuc
Loading
“How do you even know what ideophones mean?”
Gesture 19, 161 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.20005.nuc
/content/journals/10.1075/gest.20005.nuc
/content/journals/10.1075/gest.20005.nuc
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): depiction; iconic gestures; ideophones; semantic features; sensory categories

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error