A Semasiological Approach to Non-Lexical Conversational Sounds: Issues, Benefits and Impact

Abstract

This paper proposes to consider a semasiological approach to non-verbal vocalisations. We claim that an acoustic analysis of the components of these sounds is needed to complement the findings of earlier studies. We propose that part of the information conveyed by these sounds comes from their acoustic components and that these components might be subjected to what resembles grammatical rules. Semantic issues are discussed at the end of the paper.