Evolution of Polysemous Words and Sound Symbolism

Authors: Yamshchikov IP, Saha CMN, Samenko I, Jost J

Published in: arXiv 2020 (2020)

Citations: 3

Abstract:
Polysemous words — single words with multiple meanings — are ubiquitous across languages. This paper proposes that polysemy is partly driven by sound symbolism, the non-arbitrary mapping between sounds and meanings. Words that sound inherently expressive or iconic are more likely to accumulate additional meanings because speakers find them memorable. Supported by corpus analysis across multiple languages, the hypothesis bridges psycholinguistics, evolutionary linguistics, and information theory.