I do not mean "Phonaesthetics" or euphony or cacophony which carry a value judgement. Words have an audio 'pattern', mostly unique and different from other words. This is the unique audio "finger-print" of the word, which does not carry a un/pleasant connotation - it is simply the sound of a (particular word) being spoken. I am looking for the definition or term for the sound of word/s. Does such a term exist? I used to think it was "nomenclature".
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1"sound of the word" – Oldcat Apr 21 '14 at 20:44
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Alas, I really hoped you were asking about phonaesthetics! :) I don’t imagine you’re looking for the sort of acoustic sonogram that linguists use in certain sorts of speech analysis tasks? – tchrist Apr 22 '14 at 00:20
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The phonetics of a word would be the meaningful sounds (phonemes) of which a word is composed. A phoneme is composed of one or more phones (elements of physical sound regardless of meaning). – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Apr 22 '14 at 00:53
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Did you mean how a word sounds to the individual person? Or hearing your own voice? – Third News May 28 '14 at 06:17
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Most dictionaries will only give equivalents to the following two definitions...
phonology
1:The system of contrastive relationships among the speech sounds that constitute the fundamental components of a language.
2:The study of phonological relationships within a language or between different languages.
But here are almost 3000 written instances of...
the phonology of the word [some word being discussed]...
I think that's enough to establish that it's a valid "neutral" term to use in this way.
FumbleFingers
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1Phonology specifically does mean "the way words in a language sound to a native speaker". As opposed to phonetics, which is about the physiological production of sounds. – John Lawler Apr 21 '14 at 21:17
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It is called a signifier.
1 Linguistics A linguistic unit or pattern, such as a succession of speech sounds, written symbols, or gestures, that conveys meaning; a linguistic sign.
The signifier of the concept "tree" is, in English, the string of speech sounds (t), (r), and (ē); in German, (b), (ou), and (m).
2 the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something
According to Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure:
The sign (signe) is described as a "double entity", made up of the signifier, or sound image (signifiant), and the signified, or concept (signifié).
The sound image is a psychological, not a material concept, belonging to the system. Both components of the linguistic sign are inseparable.
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@tchrist: Nice reference! Now we know more about the original signifiers. – ermanen Apr 22 '14 at 00:44
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The characteristic sound associated with a word when it is spoken correctly is its pronunciation .
Gary's Student
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Are you talking about the absolute simplest form of words?
Morpheme: A morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided (e.g., in, come, -ing, forming incoming).
This isn't the sound of words, but the sounds that make up words.
The word for sounds of a word is: Phonology (see @FumbleFingers' answer) which is the branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in languages.
An interesting field that delves into this is Morphophonology as it is a branch of linguistics which studies the interaction between morphological and phonological or phonetic processes.
Tucker
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