PhD student at Uppsala University
iconicity and ideophones are the best words
🇸🇪🇪🇺🇯🇵🇦🇺🌈
bonniemclean.net
she/her
Bonnie McLean
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We cover A LOT of topics, including the characterisation of ideophones as sensory vs eventive words, whether ideophones can express abstract meanings, how anthropology can inform ideophone typology, new ideophones in Japanese haiku, relations between iconicity, systematicity and metaphor, and more!
What does #iconicity have to do with duck rabbits? You can now read my new book chapter with Yasamin Motamedi to find out!
doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...
Also out now, new work by Janis Nuckolls on the #semantics of #ideophones as "multifactorial iconic ‘packages’...enacted anew with every performative token", love it!
doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...
Here's a new paper looks at how well AI can "comprehend" the sequences of comics, and... once again AI does very bad, about 50% accuracy across 6 different sequential order tasks and a fraction of human performance. I've never seen reporting above around 50% aclanthology.org/2026.eacl-lo...
🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
So happy to see our chapter in Capturing Expressivity is now out! Our best dreams of all the wonderful ways you can explore #ideophones! 😍
Our paper (w/ @bodowinter.bsky.social and @mperlman.bsky.social) is finally out, officially 🥳. In it, we set ourselves the lofty goal of defining iconicity, focusing on its subjectivity, context-dependence, and gradability. Let us know if you agree with our definition? 🤔
doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...
Bonnie McLean
Bonnie McLean
Bonnie McLean
Bit embarrassed to be sharing this so late but I've been on parental leave... a short blog post explaining why this (not so) recent paper led by Stella Punselie & @dingemansemark.bsky.social offers a neat method to dispel some of the scepticism around iconicity: www.bonniemclean.net/news/2025-02...
Such a privilege to interview Kimi Akita for SKASE about his long career researching #ideophones! Kimi's conducted some of the most fascinating and insightful work in the field, which he continues to lead into exciting new directions. Ideophone enthusiasts, read here! www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTL6...
🚨🚨🚨 I'm hiring a Postdoc for a 3-year position to come work with me at the University of Oslo using iterative learning experiments to understand the evolution of sound symbolism. Please share widely.
🔴 Deadline is May 31st '25
⏲️ Desired starting date is Fall '25
shorturl.at/vSTZx
Bonnie McLean
Neil Cohn
www.skase.sk
Michael Pleyer
AbstractThe complex processes behind construals of iconicity present a challenge for operationalizations of iconicity in scientific investigations. This ch
