The submorphemic conjecture in English: Towards a distributed model of the cognitive dynamics of submorphemes

Didier Bottineau (1)

1 MoDyCo - Modèles, Dynamiques, Corpus

The English lexicon is known to disply a whole range of consonant clusters known as ideophones, phonaesthemes or submorphemic elements. This study reviews the arguments in favour of and against the validation of the submorphemic hypothesis and explores the ways in which a submorphemic competence may be formed by individual speakers in the course of everyday verbal practice.

Mots clés: submorphemes; ideophones; phonaesthemes; motivation; remotivation; distributed cognition; embodiment

Domaines: Linguistique

Didier Bottineau. The submorphemic conjecture in English: Towards a distributed model of the cognitive dynamics of submorphemes. Lexis. Journal in English Lexicology, 2008, 2, pp.17-40. ⟨halshs-00339889⟩