The Significance of Onomatopoeia in Languagization: From the perspective of sound-meaning relationship under dynamic system principle

： Onomatopoeia acts as the first step of linguistic expression, and is an important sign of quasi-language evolving into real language (i.e. languagization). It may gradually lose its onomatopoeic characteristics as it is adapted to the systematicity of language. As a primitive word class, typical onomatopoeia is inevitably constrained by language system in many aspects, while still maintaining its deeper nature beyond the system. Many non-onomatopoeias still carry onomatemes to various degree and manners, among which the imitation of all human sounds and some sounds of external world possess a linguistic universality. Various factors such as the equivalent selectivity, versatility and the variability of onomatopoeias keep interacting and make the whole vocabulary system be chaotic. The model of onomatopoeia structures can be deemed as an imitative target or a structural meme of other models of non-onomatopoeia structures. This paper mainly aims at demonstrating how onomatopoeias assist language in becoming systematic, and how they are constrained by general knowledge and existing language foundations.


Introduction
As the first step of linguistic expression, onomatopoeia originates from onomatopoeic interjections (such as sounds people make to lure animals). Knowledge ought to be based on association, while association is the cornerstone of the systematicness of language. Therefore, onomatopoeia is a significant sign of quasi-language evolving into real language. As a primitive word class and the foundation of linguistic system, onomatopoeia possesses following characteristics and functions: (a) It gradually loses its onomatopoeic characteristics as it is adapted to the systematicity of language. Approximate onomatopoeias, as a typical kind of onomatopoeia, are inevitably constrained by language system in many aspects, while still maintaining their deeper nature beyond this system.
(b) The lexicon mainly consists of non-onomatopoeias originating from onomatopoeias either directly or indirectly, and these non-onomatopoeias still, to various degrees and manners, carry onomatemes (the new term "onomateme" in this paper indicates the smallest unit of onomatopoetic words that can be used to describe the sound they refer to) that are synergistic with general knowledge fields, while at the same time possess language universality.
(c) Various factors of onomatopoeias such as equivalent selectivity, versatility and variability keep interacting with each other, rendering the whole lexical system chaotic.
(d) The model of onomatopoeia structures can be deemed as an imitative target or a structural meme of other models of non-onomatopoeia structures.
This paper is going to, by illuminating above characteristics and functions, demonstrate the process through which onomatopoeias assist in forming language system and which they are constrained by general knowledge and existing language foundations.

The systematic and super-systematic properties of phonetic features
Based on the criteria of language system, it can be found that the phonetic features of onomatopoeias are systematic and super-systematic. The phonetic system can be divided into the subjective, internal and deep-seated parts and the objective, external and superficial parts (Gan Shifu, 1956;E. Sapir, 1964:33). There is a dialect correspondence within the former part, while the latter part, although belongs to the sound class of its phonetic system, is actually beyond the dialect system in terms of dialect correspondence.
Tones of Chinese onomatopoeias can avoid the restriction of the deep-seated phonetic system, forming a fixed pattern in superficial phonetic system based on the classification in terms of meaning, which is attributable to the fact that this kind of onomatopoeias originates from the simulation of sounds, being directly restricted by the external world. The non-onomatopoeias other than interjections all originates from the linguistic motivation based on association (Ma Qinghua, 2011a), and along with the interaction of various factors of the linguistic system, these non-onomatopoeias are restricted by both deep-seated and superficial phonetic system in every way. For example, the pronunciations of the noun māo (猫, 'cat') in different Chinese dialects all originates from miāo (喵, 'onomat. cry of cats'), and their initials, finals and tones are all restricted by the rules of corresponding sound class. In some dialects the pronunciation of māo (猫, 'cat'), máo (毛, 'fur') and máo (茅, 'thatch') are all the same, and in others the pronunciation of māo (猫, 'cat') is the same as miáo (苗, 'seedling'). All these pronunciations follow the rules of the sound class of corresponding dialect.
From vivid onomatopoeias to approximate onomatopoeias, to the onomatemes of their derivatives (see 3.1) and to their variations (see 5.1), the onomatopoeic characteristics gradually weaken as it is adapted to the systematicity of language, while the non-onomatopoeic characteristics start to strengthen. Although the existence and development of the latter are truly worth being researched, they beyond the scope of present research, so the details would not be discussed in this paper.

Onomatemes as etymological markers and their universality
3.1 The weakening of onomatopoeic characteristics of derivatives and onomatemes When being converted into non-onomatopoeic derivatives, the onomatopoeic characteristics of these onomatopoeias gradually weaken for the need for these derivatives to be distinguished formally from source words and for the relatively lower requirement to preserve their onomatopoeic characteristics. Among the 58 kinds of mandarin onomatopoeias listed in the Modern Chinese Classification Dictionary, none of them is completely isomorphic to their non-onomatopoeic derivatives. There are only 11 nononomatopoeias that possess obvious etymological relations with their onomatopoeic sources, and their onomatopoeic characteristics are greatly weakened through such approaches as deformation, simplification (to turn monosyllables into monosyllables) and narrowing the range of application (only to retain a limited range of application). Try to compare the following examples: Derivatives, either evolved from onomatopoeias directly or indirectly and no matter how many links involved, may still possess some phonemes. Although their motivation has become somewhat obscure, they can still act as the marker of onomatopoeic etymology, becoming onomatemes, and from these phonemes or (local) phoneme combinations that are smaller than speed we can find a common factor in terms of intrinsic meaning (Ma Qinghua, 2000:134).
Among the phonetic components of the derivatives, the stability, universality and characteristic of the onomatemes are not balanced. Sometimes compared with vowels or finals, the onomatopoeic characteristics of consonants or initials are more likely to be retained. Words or morphemes referring to cats always contain the consonant [m-]. In contrast, their finals and tones are quite complex, for example some compound vowels are simplified as single essential vowels, some possess both essential vowels and tail vowels, and some have head vowels and essential vowels (and tail vowels). Moreover, even if those vowels have the same structure, their phonemes are not exactly the same. Some tones are flat, some are rising tones, some are falling ones, and some are falling-rising tones. Moreover, even the tonal models are identical, their tone pitch may not be the same. Try to compare the following examples:  Xiaoqin, 1999:143) Of course in some onomatopoeias the finals serve as onomatopoeic constants, for example onomatopoeias "dōng (咚), tōng (嗵), hōng (哄), bēng (嘣), pēng (砰)" with -ong and -eng as finals all refer to loud voice. On the other hand, a single onomatopoeic function has a variety of speech elements for the speaker to choose. Different phases of an action have different sounds, and the pronunciation intensity, place of articulation as well as manner of articulation are also distinct from each other when simulating the sound of the same phase. Each simulating pronunciation of every sounds affiliated to the same knowledge field is eligible to express the action, and it is us who have to make choice upon the requirement of the economic principle. The action of suck can be expressed with the sound of suction ['s < '-] ('' means the matching sound, and the same below) in some Chinese dialects, for example shŭn (吮) in Beijing dialect and ɕyn 55 (吮) in Jinsha dialect, and can be expressed with the sound of smacking lips ['ts < -'] in other Chinese dialects, for example zā (咂) in the dialect of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and it can also be expressed with the sound of swallowing [m-], [n-] and so on, for example mut in Vietnamese. It can be told that varied languages or dialects tend to choose different onomatemes to carry out similar meaning derivation activities. Try to compare the following examples:

The pluripotency and selectivity of onomatemes
Furthermore, most languages and dialects among those being analyzed use onomatopoeic consonant [m-] to express the concept of cat and its cry (see 3.3.2), yet a small number of languages and dialects use nasal consonant [n-], [ŋ-] and so on as onomatopoeic consonants. Try to compare the following examples: Qingxia, 1995:125) 3.3 The universality of onomatemes Onomatemes can be divided into human-voice onomatopoeia and objective sound onomatopoeia. The former is the simulation of human voice (for example 'giggle'), namely the direct use or transfer of interjections, hence this kind of onomatopoeia possess a higher level of linguistic universality. The latter is the simulation of objective sounds, in which several processes are involved such as sensation, perceptive selection and reproduction. Therefore, the variation in this kind of onomatopoeia is relatively larger than the former, while there still exist a few universal properties.
3  Compared with the onomatemes [m-/n-/ŋ-] (negative) in negative words or morphemes, the universality of these properties in interrogative words or morphemes is much weaker, which is attributable to the fact that people who have questions have already developed basic knowledge system and noticed that there existed new things that were incompatible with this system. Assertion/negation refers to will or attitude, which is irrelevant to knowledge, hence interrogation comes later than assertion/negation. Accordingly, expressions of interrogation are much richer than those of negation. In addition, since interrogation and assertion is opposite to each other, some tonal languages or dialects use words with same phonemes but different tones to manifest the opposition between interrogative pronouns and assertive pronouns, while the former often have rising tones  (Liu Xiangbo, 2010), retaining the mode of interrogating with tones as interrogative interjections (Ma Qinghua, 2011b). Therefore, the phonemic form of interrogative pronouns might submit to that of the assertive pronounce, and vise versa, hence its select range of phonemic form is much wider than negative words.

The universality of objective sound onomatopoeia
It is widely known among scholars that objective sound onomatopoeias possess linguistic particularities. But there still exist some universal onomatemes, for example the onomatopoeic phoneme [m-](meow) in words referring to cat and its cry: L. Bloomfield noticed that in English there existed initials and finals with "morphological features" (L. Bloomfield, 1997:189-190, 307-309), which is also an evidence to the fact that onomatemes are universal. Some scholars mistook this as an evidence to relationship of languages, and few people have noticed this.

The role of basic knowledge field in form-meaning producing based on onomatopoeia
The Motivation Theory under Constraint of Knowledge Field, as I propose in several papers, holds that: elements of general knowledge in knowledge fields are inter-related with each other, and are reflected in the development of form-meaning relationship. In the derivative of lexical items and other lexical form-meaning relations, these elements serve as pillars; various knowledge fields are not isolated from each other, instead they are inter-related because of the intersection of some knowledge elements; there exists a precedence order among different knowledge fields in terms of genetic linguistics (Ma Qinghua, 2000:96-113;2011a;2012. Ma Qinghua & Teng Xinyi, 2012. Basic knowledge fields, namely the basic knowledge that cannot be traced back to any original knowledge field, are related with onomatemes and the pictographic characters of lips. This is because that the beginning of linguistic motivation can only be found in the primitive physiological and physical level whose emergence is ahead of language. Physiological motivation (interjections), physical motivation (onomatopoeias), psychological or significant motivation (polysemant) and grammar motivation (including lexical motivation and syntactic motivation, while the former refers to morphology and the latter refers to grammaticalization and multi-category words) enter the lexical system successively, and in turn promote the development of the whole system (Ma Qinghua, 2011a;2011b). Onomatopoeia is an important sign of quasi-language evolving into real language, after which the function of language turns from expressing feelings to knowledge. Substantial non-onomatopoeias come from onomatopoeias either directly or indirectly, including nouns, verbs and adjectives, consist of the majority of lexis. And relatively stable onomatemes, whose motivations have become quite obscure after repeated changes in meaning and form though, still exist in these non-onomatopoeias.

The field relationship of concepts/notions with the same onomatemes
There exists a field relationship among concepts/notions with the same onomatemes. Reversely, concepts/notions in the same knowledge field may possess same onomatemes. And the difference between concepts and notions lies in that, the former is expressed with words, while the latter with semantemes. In the communication with infants, guardians often use reiterative onomatopoeic interjections, whose contents are in related with their basic daily needs. To some extent, the communication between guardians and infants is much more urgent, primitive and elementary than that between adults. The knowledge field of breast-feed is a basic one that cannot be traced back to a more primitive field, and it may be more primitive than the knowledge field of chewing. The typical components of general knowledge in this field (highlighted with "[ ]") are inter-related with each other.
Basic knowledge field: sounds of sucking and gulping infants make when being breast-fed.

Details: Infants [+INFANT](→[+SMALL]) often take breast milk [+MILK](→[+FOOD+LIQUID]) as their food [+FOOD].
Mothers [+MOM] (→[+FEMALE]) would make their babies to lean to one side [+LEANING/SIDE] against [+GETTING CLOSE] their plump [+FULL] and soft [+SOFT] breast [+BREAST], and the babies suck [+TO SUCK] their mother's nipple [+NIPPLE] with their mouth [+MOUTH] so as to take in the milk [+TAKE IN] and at the same time make the sound of sucking and gulping [+TO MAKE SOUND] .
In the following 9 groups of words/concepts whose initials are the same as "明(Ming)" in archaic Chinese, there might exist a generalized multiplying of concepts based on onomateme [m-](sound of gulping) and the knowledge field of breast-feed. For one thing, these words/concepts all possess phonemes the same as onomateme [m-](sound of gulping). For the other, their relevant features, whose coexistence could reflect the intrinsic connection of general knowledge, are all general components of the knowledge field of breast-feed. For example, knowledge field of eating instead of breast-feed couldn't cover the two groups of words/concepts of [+MOTHER] and [+SMALL]. Another example is that, getting close is the precondition of suck, leaning to one side is the general posture or position of breast-feed for infants, plumpness and tenderness are the features of breast, and softness is the feature of such foods. All these features would be reflected on the etymological relationship. In addition, there may also exist linguistic universality in the form-meaning and meaning-meaning relationship. Similar phenomenon can also be found in randomly selected Czech words/concepts. The derivative concepts with the same onomateme are not isolated from each other. They all belong to the same knowledge field, and play different roles in the building of field relationship. The field relationship among the above-mentioned concepts and features complies with the basic principle and theoretical precondition of Gestalt Theory-holism, manifesting the functional connection of the different components of this theory (Yang Xinhui, 2000:14, 41).
The form-meaning division of words tends to divide in layers as it gains intensity, and

The Significance of Onomatopoeia in Languagization: From the perspective of sound-meaning relationship under dynamic system principle
the outer the layer is, the lower the form-meaning accessibility become. The restrictive effect of knowledge field has been certified in the first (polysemants), second (homophonous paronyms) and third (paronyms with similar pronunciations) homologous layers (Ma Qinghua, 2012;Ma Qinghua & Teng Xinyi, 2012), while onomateme manages to spread this effect to the forth homologous layer (the basic system of semantics) (Ma Qinghua, 2000:135), showing the most primitive form of language. To untangle the etymological relationship of various components, we need the systematic proof of illocutionary indicators (real or psychological indicators), locutionary indicators (such synchronic or diachronic indicators as pronunciation-meaning relationship, meaning, word-formation and pragmatics) and cross-language indicators (linguistic universality, non-debtor-creditor relationship and so on). Yet the forth homologous layer reflects the homologous relationship of the symbolizing element of words, instead of whole word or morphemes with homologous properties. The symbolizing element of words, a unit even smaller than morphemes, consists of onomatemes and pictographic properties (namely the symbolizing elements of lips). Therefore, its distinguishing method should be different from other homologous layers that reflect the homologous relationship of whole words.

The variation of onomatemes and the formation of the chaos of motivation system
The equivalent selectivity, versatility and the variability of onomatopoeic properties would affect the form-meaning relationship of onomatopoeic derivatives, making the lexical motivation system become increasingly complicated and finally turn into the chaos state. One of the significant features of the chaos state are the sensitivity to the initial value. A small difference would lead to great gully in the end (Xu Guozhi, 2004:113;Liang Meiling & Wang Zeke, 1991:175-178). As the initial value of motivation system, onomateme is of great importance in the research field.

Manner of articulation
The selectivity, versatility and the variability of onomatemes not always take effect simultaneously, instead they form a tangled strength stirring the form-meaning relationship. A group of meanings with one onomateme might be blended in with other phonemes. Onomateme is a kind of motivation, and along with the expansion of meaning, the whole lexical motivation system becomes increasingly complex. Furthermore, other phonetic factors are continually adjusting themselves under the influence of sound and meaning, making the form-meaning relationship renew from time to time, hence the lexical motivation system turns more complicated and chaotic.
6. The onomatopoeic meme of language 6.1 The formation of two basic figurative form-meaning multiplying memes Onomatopoeia originates from similarity, promoting the emergence of linguistic metaphor. It then expands to non-onomatopoeic meanings and words, namely to express the actions, properties, results, contents or other related feelings and events as regard to the speaker based on onomatopoeia, and metonymy based on relativity hence emerges for the first time. Therefore, onomatopoeia and its development respectively lead to the meme (He Ziran, 2005) of metaphor and metonymy.
6.2 Reduplications and their roles in ideographical expression based on memetics Onomatopoeic reduplications exist in almost all the languages. "Infants, regardless of their language, tend to used reduplications when learning to speak." (I. Goldberg, 2003: 144). This is not only attributable to the expression object, but also to the primitive feature of this kind of words. Either continuous or incontinuous sound can serve as the object of simulation. Full reduplication is used when simulating continuous sound, and partial reduplication is employed when simulating incontinuous ones. Partial reduplication can not only express short, continuous sounds, but also single, incontinuous sounds, for example, we often say (3a) in mandarin, but never say (3b). This is similar to monosyllable onomatopoeias such as (4a), yet different from full reduplications. We never say (4b) in mandarin, but we can say (4c).
(3) a. bādā /cīliū /gāzhī /gēdēng yì shēng (叭哒/刺溜/嘎吱/咯噔一声) Partial reduplications could be transferred into full ones to express continuous sounds, such as "bādā bādā (叭哒叭哒, 'click click'), hōnglōng hōnglōng (轰隆轰隆, 'rumble rumble')". Full reduplications gain acoustic figurativeness when expressing an expansion in their meanings. Such pattern of form-meaning relationship is analogized by other syntactic structures, and hence its influence spreads out beyond onomatopoeias. And evidence of this can be found in the tonal modification of BB which is in the ABB form of mandarin adjectives. The origin tone of the onomatopoeic BB is level tone, while that of the non-onomatopoeic BB, although isn't level tone, can be pronounced with level one, which is originated from the tone of onomatopoeias in the same place. Try to compare the following examples.

Conclusion
From the analysis above, a conclusion can be made that: Onomatopoeia is an important sign of quasi-language evolving into real language. As a primitive word class, it still maintains their deeper nature beyond the linguistic system. Substantial non-onomatopoeias come from onomatopoeias either directly or indirectly, including nouns, verbs and adjectives, consist of the majority of lexis. In addition, the model of onomatopoeia structures can be deemed as an imitative target or a structural meme of other models of non-onomatopoeia structures. Many non-onomatopoeias still carry onomatemes to various degree and manners, among which the imitation of all human sounds and some sounds of external world possess a linguistic universality. The weakening, obscuring and disappear-ance of onomatemes proceed simultaneously with the systematization of language. The form-meaning production and derivation based on onomatopoeias exist in the lexical system under the influenced of general knowledge and existing language foundations.

Abbreviations
ONOMAT onomatopoeia PAC pronunciation in archaic Chinese reconstructed by S. Zhengzhang (2003) PART particle SAMK a language belongs to the South-Asian Mon-Khmer languages STHM a language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan Hmong-Mien languages STKT a language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan Kam-Tai languages STTB a language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman languages