A study in de-iconization : phonological and morphological adaptations of Indo-European bird names
Bird names are very important and interesting when it comes to studying iconicity. In particular, words naming birds with a distinct call, such as crow, raven, cuckoo, owl, and eagle, typically emerge by direct imitation. Initially, the name of the bird in languages mimic the sound of the bird’s call (Marttila 2011). However, over time, the sound structure of the name of the bird often becomes sub
