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Gizey onomatopoeias

par Guitang, Guillaume ;Akumbu Wuchu, Pius
Référence SKASE Journal of theoretical linguistics, 22, 2, page (48-60)
Publication Publié, 2025-07-01

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

This paper offers a first overview of onomatopoeias in Gizey, a languoid of the Masa branch of Chadic (Afroasiatic). Onomatopoeias are classified as a subset of ideophones, which include words, irrespective of word class (nouns, interjections, and adverbs), that depict sensory experiences. Like other ideophones, onomatopoeias show very little “deviant” phonology, and do not take part in any inflectional or derivational morphological operations. A remarkable feature of Gizey onomatopoeias is the prevalence of the CiC (Consonant-vowel /i/-Consonant) root structure. However, there does not appear to be any transparent CiC-meaning association. Tentatively, we argue that the CiC pattern is merely a morphological niche from which new onomatopoeias are modelled. Finally, we highlight other more potentially serious instances of sound symbolism in Gizey onomatopoeias.