Re: subconscious sound preferences

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 o=
n
> 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.
No, that's not at all a stupid question; it's a well known linguistic
phenomenon.

Sound-symbolism is very common, and actually among the most
common forms of sporadic language change*.  For example,
the English word "tiny" is an old one, enough so that during
the Middle English period it took part in the Great Vowel Shift, which
changed the original /i/ to the diphthong /ai/.  Later on, though, an
alternant form arose which went back to the original form, /tini/,
and is used today right along side the changed form.  This is because,
it's theorized, certain sounds tend to be associated with certain social
constructs, like front high vowels (like /i/) seeming to represent smalln=
ess or
femininity, with low back vowels just the opposite (the IE feminine
forms in -a, like Latin "femina" and "ancilla" are a strange exception to
the rule, which goes to show that it's just a tendency).

Now, as for the patterns that you seem to find recurring in your own
conlangs, that's more of personal preference thing than a general
linguistic phenomenon, or at least that's how it strikes me.

*(That along with analogy or leveling of linguistic paradigms and
onomatopoeia make up the traditional triad of non-Lautgesetz
(sound-law) language change)


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Tom Wier <twier@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"S=F4=F0 is gecy=FEed / =FE=E6t mihtig God manna
cynes / w=EAold w=EEde-ferh=F0."
 _Beowulf_, ll. 700-702
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