sound symbolism

noun

Linguistics.

1. a nonarbitrary connection between phonetic features of linguistic items and their meanings, as in the frequent occurrence of close vowels in words denoting smallness, as petite and teeny-weeny.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sound symbolism¹

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

This suggests a "hybrid" nature of these death whistle sounds, combining a basic psychoaffective influence on listeners with more elaborate mental processes of sound symbolism, signifying the iconographic nature.

Read more on Science Daily

A shared “sound symbolism” across languages is not especially surprising when it reflects a real sound in nature, says Benjamin K. Bergen, a professor of cognitive science and director of the Language and Cognition Lab at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the work.

Read more on Scientific American

Sound symbolism is when a word sounds like what it means.

Read more on New York Times

With profane words, though, as in other cases of sound symbolism, the sounds themselves seem to carry meaning.

Read more on New York Times

They wondered whether it might even represent what’s called sound symbolism.

Read more on New York Times