The repetition of phonemic characteristics in radical morphemes in sets of synonyms from Indoeuropean languages (VII)

Abstract

In our examination of C. D. Buck's dictionary of synonyms we started from the fact that individual synonymic sets show frequent repetitions of identical or similar phonemes in independent radical morphemes. In the work of the Indo-Europeah scholars this fact which clearly goes beyond. the frame of generally recognized onomatopoetic terms has either been overlooked or - because ar the theoretical suppositions to the contrary - bas received no particular attention, even when observed. Despite the tiresome labour required by such an undertaking, it seemed worth while to proceed to a systematic investigation which rriight establish whether all this can be due to a broader regularity in the parallel naming of the same realit.y. By mearts of a comparative analysis of synonyms and by the application of the statistical method we approached, on a limited corpus of material, the old and yet again and again tackled problem of the intrinsic connection between sound and meaning.