A study of vocalic iconicity in tallied syllables of the Debao dialect of Southern Zhuang language

Abstract

The aim of this research is to discover the patterns of vocalic iconicity in the tallied syllables of the Debao dialect of Southern Zhuang language and the study their semantic function. The study reveals that there are two systems of iconicity in the tallied syllables, the Primary System and the Secondary Systems. The two systems are distinguished mainly by the syllabic structure of the tallied syllables and by the degree of productivity. The Primary System is absolutely productive, whereas the Secondary System is only relatively productive because it also includes the non-productive type of tallied syllables. As for the syllabic structure, the Primary System features open syllables with three iconic vowels: /a:/ /e/ and /eui/. The Secondary System features closed syllables with three iconic vowels: /a:/, /e:/ and /ui/. The consonant finals of the tallied syllables in the Secondary System include /-p/ /-t/ /-k/ /-m/ /-ŋ/. In both systems of iconicity, /a:/ and /e:/ illustrate the phenomenon of vowel ablaut indicating contrastive semantic values of [augmentatives] versus [diminutives]. The other two vowels /eui/ and /ui/ which occur with no opposition illustrate iconic values of [casualness] and [unsual characteristics] respectively. The senses of the finals / -p -t -k -m –ŋ / that add subclassifying meanings to the iconic vowels correspond to [movement], [quality], [force], [feeling] and [scope] respectively.