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Re: subconscious sound preferences

From:charles <catty@...>
Date:Monday, December 28, 1998, 0:46
J. Barefoot wrote:
> > I just noticed something. Some sounds just seem to jive with certain > meanings. I mean, I know this is obvious to all of us; we wouldn't be on > this list otherwise, but I've noticed it a subconcious level. To me, "k" > is negative, "-m" is "-er", "t" is "present tense", "ngi" means "you", > "s" is dative, and "pan" is "male". I find myself reproducing these > forms in sketch after sketch, and not realizing what I'm doing. I'm > curious to know if any of you have hit on the "perfect forms" in your > own preference, that perhaps you reproduce subconsciously; if you've > discovered the sounds that whisper to you irresistably "this is what I > mean". > > I'm sorry, it really sounds like a stupid question.
Not; but those are uncommon associations, I think. Here is a favorite URL, someone trained by Chomsky himself (at least to a degree) and with some interesting essays on other topics as well: http://www.conknet.com/~mmagnus/ A web search on "Nostratic" and such might also be elucidating; apparently there are connections between different language families at a fundamental level, and strange new ideas are afoot (sort of): * There was a cataclysmic flood into the Black Sea circa 5600 BC, causing dispersion of Proto-Indo-European. * Arabic roots are not really triliteral consonants, there is some sort of characteristic vowel. * PIE roots were all CVC. It all opens up more possibilities for imagination.