Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associations
The lexicalization of perception verbs has been of widespread interest as a route into understanding the relationship between language and cognition. A recent study finds global biases in colexification patterns, suggesting recurrent conceptual associations between sensory meanings across languages....
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| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Linguistic Typology |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/lingty-2023-0038 |
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| author | Norcliffe Elisabeth Majid Asifa |
| author_facet | Norcliffe Elisabeth Majid Asifa |
| author_sort | Norcliffe Elisabeth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The lexicalization of perception verbs has been of widespread interest as a route into understanding the relationship between language and cognition. A recent study finds global biases in colexification patterns, suggesting recurrent conceptual associations between sensory meanings across languages. In this paper, drawing on a balanced sample of 100 languages, we examine cross-modal semantic associations in word formation. Confirming earlier proposals, we find derived verbs are lower on a proposed Sense Modality Hierarchy (sight > hearing > touch > taste, smell) than the source perception verbs on which they are based. We propose these findings can be explained by verb frequency asymmetries and the general tendency for sources of derivations to be more frequent than their targets. Moreover, it appears certain pairings (e.g., hear–smell) are recurrently associated via word formation, but others are typologically rare. Intriguingly, the typological patterning partially diverges from the patterning reported for colexification in the same domain. We suggest that while colexification is driven by conceptual resemblance between sensory meanings, cross-modal word formations tend to arise from grammaticalization processes of lexical specification, where additional material (e.g., a sensory noun) is collocated to a polysemous verb in order to disambiguate it in context. Together, these processes can account for the typological similarities and divergences between the two phenomena. More generally, this study highlights the need to consider conceptual, communicative and diachronic factors together in the mapping between words and meanings. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-970984386a6742c2845d850ce23f36ba |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1430-0532 1613-415X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Linguistic Typology |
| spelling | doaj-art-970984386a6742c2845d850ce23f36ba2025-08-20T02:26:09ZengDe GruyterLinguistic Typology1430-05321613-415X2024-10-0128341945910.1515/lingty-2023-0038Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associationsNorcliffe Elisabeth0Majid Asifa16396University of Oxford, Oxford, UK6396University of Oxford, Oxford, UKThe lexicalization of perception verbs has been of widespread interest as a route into understanding the relationship between language and cognition. A recent study finds global biases in colexification patterns, suggesting recurrent conceptual associations between sensory meanings across languages. In this paper, drawing on a balanced sample of 100 languages, we examine cross-modal semantic associations in word formation. Confirming earlier proposals, we find derived verbs are lower on a proposed Sense Modality Hierarchy (sight > hearing > touch > taste, smell) than the source perception verbs on which they are based. We propose these findings can be explained by verb frequency asymmetries and the general tendency for sources of derivations to be more frequent than their targets. Moreover, it appears certain pairings (e.g., hear–smell) are recurrently associated via word formation, but others are typologically rare. Intriguingly, the typological patterning partially diverges from the patterning reported for colexification in the same domain. We suggest that while colexification is driven by conceptual resemblance between sensory meanings, cross-modal word formations tend to arise from grammaticalization processes of lexical specification, where additional material (e.g., a sensory noun) is collocated to a polysemous verb in order to disambiguate it in context. Together, these processes can account for the typological similarities and divergences between the two phenomena. More generally, this study highlights the need to consider conceptual, communicative and diachronic factors together in the mapping between words and meanings.https://doi.org/10.1515/lingty-2023-0038perception verbscolexificationlexical typologysensory languageword formation |
| spellingShingle | Norcliffe Elisabeth Majid Asifa Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associations Linguistic Typology perception verbs colexification lexical typology sensory language word formation |
| title | Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associations |
| title_full | Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associations |
| title_fullStr | Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associations |
| title_short | Word formation patterns in the perception domain: a typological study of cross-modal semantic associations |
| title_sort | word formation patterns in the perception domain a typological study of cross modal semantic associations |
| topic | perception verbs colexification lexical typology sensory language word formation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/lingty-2023-0038 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT norcliffeelisabeth wordformationpatternsintheperceptiondomainatypologicalstudyofcrossmodalsemanticassociations AT majidasifa wordformationpatternsintheperceptiondomainatypologicalstudyofcrossmodalsemanticassociations |