Latest Articles by Sarah Canice Funke
I can't remember the word that describes the kind of word whose connotations or characteristics also fit the meaning of the word. A good example is "erudite": it just sounds scholarly. A word that does not fit the description is "long." "Long" is a short word, so it doesn't work. An onomatopoeia is perhaps a subcatagory of this type of word. But the descriptive term is escaping me. Help! All you linguists or people with better memories than my own, come to my aid. I can't find it on the internet anywhere, because in order to learn anything on the web, you either have to know it already or else just get lucky.
Posted by funke at 7.08.06 11:26 | TrackBack | Posted toIs phonosemantic what you're looking for? Phonosemantics is the study of the relationship between sound and meaning in words.
Posted by: damien at 8.08.06 13:57I just read this word in Godel, Escher, Bach: I think it was autologous or homologous or something like that.
Posted by: Evan Donovan at 8.08.06 15:58Evan, I looked autologous and homologous up on wikipedia and was greatly amused by the results. So I am now going to comb my copy of GEB with a fine-toothed needle. Or something like that.
Mr. Howard, phonosemantics is SOOOOO close to what I am looking for; I can taste it. I am going to follow up the mimologic lead.
Posted by: funke at 9.08.06 22:11...and if anyone is wondering why I am losing sleep over this, it's simply a question of reality. I distinctly remember reading about this concept in a book by Bertrand Russell. However, the concept was included as a footnote, and I can't for the life of me even find the book that it was in now. If my memory proves unreliable, how shall I ever determine what is real?
I NEED TO KNOW!!!!!!!!
:)
Posted by: funke at 9.08.06 22:57Okay. I remember the cover of the book vividly: a stylized head thinking the concept of a dog, next to a speech bubble with the text "D-O-G" in it. I can't remember the title of this book. Maybe it wasn't by Russell. The same book also talked about type/token distinctions in speaking (I.e., this utterance of "dog" is different from the next utterance of "dog" and yet it is the same word.....concept?)
I am beginning to believe I made this whole memory up. Somebody shoot me.
Posted by: funke at 9.08.06 23:29As an example of a word whose sound doesn't fit the meaning, don't you think sanguine sounds a bit morose or listless? And yet it means cheerfully confident and optimistic.
Posted by: damien at 10.08.06 8:38Yes. Yes.
And wriggly and squiggly are more examples of ones that do fit: all those curvy g's, y's, w's, and q's.
There is definitely a need for this word I can't think of.
Portmanteau can mean a word formed by merging words or parts of words, which is kinda fun, since it comes from merging the words coat and carrier in French... the word also means suitcase.
I found this in a fun list of words, available here.
Posted by: bob at 10.08.06 22:13Oh, Bob, the link is broken. Separated from fun words--I don't know if I can stand the suspense.
Posted by: funke at 11.08.06 10:06