16 in classifying their meanings. There are three theories related to this term
proposed by three differe nt scholars; they are Bolinger‟s , Bloomfield‟s, and
Rhodes ‟. Those theories are simplified in the form of tables presented by Abelin
1999, pp. 32-33 which can be seen in Appendix A.
C. Theoretical Framework
To answer the two research problems proposed in the previous chapter, the researcher takes two steps in outline. Firstly, before conducting classification of
sound symbolism in English children songs, the researcher sorts the collected songs into two types, namely lullabies and play songs. To determine whether a
song belongs to lullaby or play song, the researcher employs the theories cited in Trehub and Trainor 1998.
The second step, to answer the two research problems which are basically formulated to classify sound symbolic words found in lullabies and play songs,
the researcher uses the theory of sound symbolism proposed by Hinton, Nichols, and Ohala 1994. Based on that theory, there are four sound symbolism
categories; they are corporeal, imitative, synesthetic, and conventional sound symbolism.
Since the scope of the last mentioned category – conventional sound
symbolism – was broad, the researcher provides supporting theories to cover it.
Besides the theory suggested by Hinton et al. 1994, the other theories used in this category are
Bolinger‟s, Bloomfield‟s, and Rhodes‟, which are presented in a simplified way as cited in Abelin 1999, p. 32-33.
17 The following tables are basically to show the phonesthemic sounds along
with their contents synthesized from the three theories of conventional sound symbolism. The purpose of dividing the phonesthemic sounds into three tables is
simply to make them more understandable. However, the researcher allows any possibility if there will be phonesthemic sounds existing in lullabies or play songs,
but not stated in those three tables, as long as they refer to particular content. Table 2.1 is presented phonesthemic sounds whose positions are at the
beginning of words. There are 10 phonesthemic sounds having more than one content, whereas the rest of the sounds have one content only.
