Intensifying ideophones in three Luhya languages1
نویسندگان
چکیده
Ideophones are typically described as “marked words that depict sensory imagery” (Dingemanse 2011, 25). This paper addresses ideophone data from three Luhya languages: Llogoori, Lunyore, and Lutiriki (Bantu, Kenya). Our primary claim is descriptive: we show that there is a closed class of (previously undescribed) Luhya ideophones. We illustrate how the Luhya data is consistent with what is known about ideophones cross-linguistically, and give a preliminary semantic analysis of the Luhya ideophones as degree intensifiers.
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