Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Onomatopes, and other sizzling examples of sound symbolism

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The English lesson everyone remembers from school is onomatopoeia. Or, at least, they remember the word but forget how to spell it.

Onomatopoeia is memorable, probably, because it is such an interesting concept. You will recall, of course, it is the process of creating a word that sounds like what it describes – sizzle, beep, burp, whizz. The resulting word is an onomatope.

But onomatopes are far from the only example of sound symbolism in the English language. When relating to the aesthetic values of sounds, this is called phonaesthesia.

A collection of letters can have a message. Many words that have to do with sagging, or going downwards, begin with the letters S and L. Sliding, slouching, sluggish, slack, slant, slump, slide. Many insults that denote laziness begin the same way: slovenly, sleazy, sloppy, slothful, sluggish, slob.

Words beginning SN often convey something unpleasant: sneak, sneer, snake, snide, sniff, snipe, snoop, snitch, snot. Words beginning SW, on the other hand, conjure images of expansive movement: swing, swingeing, swathe, swipe, swat, swish, swell, swoop.

Words that end RL give an idea of roundness: curl, furl, gnarl, twirl, whirl, whorl, purl. GL beginnings suggest brightness: glamour, glare, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, gloss, glow.

SH endings give swift or strong movement: gush, push, splash, whoosh, crash, rash, dash, flash. And forceful words have the same: brash, harsh, rush, mash, bash, crush.

A word with a short vowel sound, then a P, conveys suddenness: blip, clip, flip, hop, lop, nip, rip, slap, skip, quip, whip, yap, zap.

There is something aggressive about words that start with V: venomous, vicious, vile, vindictive, vitriolic, vanquish, vendetta.

Words with the vowels A, O, and U say something bigger than words with an I: slot is wider than slit. The same is true of chip and chop, wrinkled and rumpled, stripe and strata, slip and slop.

Authors and scriptwriters use sound symbolism to imbue their characters with personality. Would a person known as Bubba be heavy-set? Might a boy called Jack be nimble and quick? Might a gentle soul be named Hannah?

Dickens was the master of this. You can tell his characters’ traits by the sound of their names –violent schoolmaster Wackford Squeers, mean-spirited Ebenezer Scrooge, pompous Mr Pumblechook.

Now before you reach for your pen or emailing device, I know there are many exceptions. “Slick” starts with SL and is the opposite of slouching. “Gloom” starts GL and is the opposite of brightness. “Sweet” starts SW but is nothing to do with expansive movement.

You’re right. There isn’t a consistent pattern to sound symbolism, and much of it has to do with individual perception. This isn’t an exact science by any means, very few things in the English language are.

But anyone who wishes to write descriptively would do well to pay attention to the way words sound.

 


 

Word of the week

Exsibilate (verb)

To hiss off the stage. EG: “I wish we could exsibilate some vexatious politicians.”


Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk