Lautsymbolik – ein vernachlässigter Forschungsgegenstand der Sprachwissenschaft

As texts about sound symbolism are currently missing, this article wants to inspire new interest in this topic. To begin with, earlier studies are surveyed which dealt directly with sound symbolism in various empiric ways. Next, fields of research are depicted which presently touch upon sound symbolism, such as language evolution, synesthesia, ideophones, names in literature and brand names. It will be argued that research in sound symbolism proper could help to support and even put into perspective some quite hasty results in neighbouring disciplines