March 04 2011
Unsound FX
To wrap up a manic week at DA Central, with gypsy spells and mangled movies for company, let’s turn to Alison. This keen solver issued a challenge a few weeks back, that still bugs me – in the best way. See what you make of it:
I’ve always had an interest in language…and have a word question to which I have been unable to find the answer. Like synonym and homophone, I believe there is a similar correct term for words which sound like their meaning. I don’t mean onomatopeia – some sort of “nym” or “phone”. Do you know?
When I asked Alison for examples, she offered the likes of ooze and sludge and greasy, though I prefer flint [which bizarrely almost looks and sounds flinty], or gumption, somehow. Or am I insane?
Alison also mused on hiphop – the word – and wondered if there’s not a linguistic term for this pseudo-semi-onomatopoeic thingummy. And if not, can we invent one?
So there’s your Friday challenge: what words belong on Alison’s list of not-quite-but-sorta sound-like words, and what do we call such varmints? All oozy ideas welcome.
Comments
JD — 04 March at 07:31AM
What about a Sononym?
Splat, drip, sizzle, chop - all sound like their meaning.
Mauve — 04 March at 07:48AM
"astonishing" looks and sounds and feels like someone astonished I've always thought
SK — 04 March at 08:42AM
How about gruff, and hum-drum.
Could these words be called Metaphones?
Boniface — 04 March at 09:57AM
Blob - it's my fave, maybe it's the two soft bilabial plosives that do the trick, like with blubber
Prickle - here, the harsh velar plosive [k] and short i suggest something sharp and unpleasant
ML — 04 March at 10:30AM
I like gnarled... especially if you pronounce the g
Nib — 04 March at 11:36AM
Stutter and Lithp spring to mind. :P
Caramel makes you roll your tongue about the mouth.
I have always liked Dollop.
Drudgery has that glottal sludge-like wallowing on the consonant cluster.
Hot Word from Dictionary.com has a similar article today: http://tinyurl.com/4v5xj2n
Nib — 04 March at 11:45AM
Did my link mark me as a spammer? I nominated
Stutter and Lithp
Caramel
Dollop
Drudgery
JT — 04 March at 12:15PM
Somewhat tangential, but this reminds me of the amusing observation that "pentasyllabic" has five syllables. Which leads to a paradoxical puzzle; to quote Tim Maly:
...[D]ivide all of the English adjectives into two categories: autological and heterological. An autological adjective is one which is self-descriptive; "pentasyllabic", "awkwardfulness", "short". A heterological adjective is not self-descriptive; "edible", "hungry", "monosyllabic", "long". Now, the question we must ask ourselves is: "Is 'heterological' heterological?"
Boniface — 04 March at 02:06PM
JT - I always tell lies.
Ruth Johnson — 04 March at 04:56PM
SMH March 4; Quick Crossword 20 across.
Can the verb "to ensue" ever be transitive?
Mauve — 04 March at 07:47PM
2 opposites:
bubbles and strength
strength is so bolstered with reinforcing consonants it's virtually impregnable, and bubbles looks like it's about to float away
PRS — 04 March at 10:26PM
The world is full of paradoxes, particularly when dealing with self-referential entities. One of may favourites (from the 'N' half of 'L&N") follows.
Divide any set of numbers into two parts: interesting and not interesting, using several criteria.
Then you have the smallest uninteresting number, which, of course, makes it interesting. Ergo, every number is interesting.
JT's post reminds me of "Who shaves the barber" paradox.
PRS — 04 March at 10:27PM
Juggling
Multiplicity
Monotonous
Sam — 05 March at 08:41AM
In one of her detective novels, Dorothy Sayers has Harriet Vane coming to terms with her marriage to Lord Peter Wimsey when she says … “Her – and this was the incalculable factor in the thing - her husband. (A repressive word, that, when you came to think of it, compounded of a grumble and a thump.)” Thankfully things work out alright in the end, despite the body in cellar of their honeymoon house…
PRS — 05 March at 10:21AM
It seems the spam filter may have gobbled these:
Juggling
Multiplicity
Monotonous
Eld Jaws Anon — 05 March at 03:23PM
Regarding the names of these kinds of words, IIRC Kate Burridge talked about this on an episode of ABC's "Can We Help" back in 2009... but of course I can't find a link back to any episodes that old, nor does there seem to be a searchable archive of the "Wise Words" segment (there is a message board but it, too, is not searchable. C'mon Auntie, you can do better!)
Anyway, the stickler :-D in me must point out that it is "onomatopoeia", not "onomatopeia"; the second half is from the Greek verb "poiein" (to make).
philth — 05 March at 03:43PM
ah yes PRS, i love self referential statements
1. Both of these statements are false.
2. The correct term for this syno-homonym business is the Klingon word lolchu'taH
JPR — 05 March at 03:53PM
'Arete' might be a candidate but only if pronounced like it sort of rhymes with 'a pet' which i thought was the correct way -- no 'ay' at the end? [why would there be? -- no accent on the second e? -- maybe a circum-wotsit on the first one but that just sharpens the sound?]
DA — 05 March at 04:42PM
Closest I can get to labelling this subset is the most unsexy tag of PHONAESTHEMES, as per the Wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonestheme
The whole topic, with a few threads from this astute forum, is slated to be next week's Wordplay column.
JPR — 05 March at 05:31PM
what about 'oonerspisms'
Sam — 06 March at 10:07AM
So would -mble be a phonaestheme as in
mumble
bumble
stumble
fumble
ramble
rumble
grumble
gamble
tumble?
jerome ehlers — 14 March at 09:56AM
I have a close friend (Matthew Rey) who has campaigned at dinner parties for years now to get the word 'onamatotenor' into the dictionary...