System of Semantic Universals in the Sound Space Lexicon

Abstract

One of the central problems of typological linguistics is the identification and study of common features inherent in all or most languages. All natural languages have common and distinctive regularities. The common patterns established as a result of the intersection of linguistic features in different languages by means of the comparative method are called linguistic universals. The linguistic universals established in this way in different languages of different families belong to one of the central problems of typological linguistics, to universology or linguistics of universals. The paper is a continuation of the study of absolute universals that know no exceptions or are characteristic of almost all languages of the world. The aim of the study is the system of semantic universals. Using the comparative and descriptive methods, the material of the Indo-European and Ugro-Finnish languages, representing the lexicon of the sound space of 25 languages of different language groups and families, has been traced. The languages under comparison belong to different language systems, but they have absolute universal onomatopoeic semantic formations. The reason for this typology lies in the closeness of these universals to the natural sounds of the reality, which are imitated by different language systems. In all the languages of the world, the objective basis of the studied semantic universals is extra-linguistic sound, imitation of the phenomena of sound space, because they arise in the same sphere of semantics in all languages - noise, creaking, screaming, hitting - sound in general. The formation of semantic universals is determined by two factors: extra-linguistic, or universal, independent of a particular language, and linguistic, which manifests itself in different ways depending on a particular language. The reason for this typology lies in the closeness of such semantic universals to the natural sounds of the surrounding reality, which are imitated by different language systems. Consequently, their sound shells are related to the corresponding phenomena of objective reality through their semantics. The proposed study is a contribution to the development of the theory of universals or universology as a separate science, which at this stage of linguistics development is separated from typological linguistics.