Muai - Patterns - Sound Symbolism
muai fonsi hunti *
Building words is an art, here's my palette.
< A, a >
/a/
[ a, ɐ, ɑ, ɒ]
- generality
- neutrality
- amplitude
- wideness
- flatness, 2D (bidimensionality)
- emptiness, unchanged
- space
< E, e >
/e/
[ e, ɛ ]
- humanity
- weakness, restriction
- delicateness
- beauty
- development
- oldness
- advanced position
- future
- extent, body
< I, i >
/i/
[ i, ɪ, j ]
- smallness
- sharpness
- beggining, incipience
- childhood
- sequence
- smooth opening
- leak
- individuality
- animate, active, subject
- linearity, 1D (unidimensionality)
< O, o >
/o/
[ o, ɔ ]
- circularity, sphericity
- curvature
- absoluteness, completeness
- force
- joviality
- retraction, retracted position
- past
- volume, 3D (tridimensionality)
< U, u >
/u/
[ u, ʊ, w ]
- point, punctualit, 0D (zero-dimensionality)
- precision
- end
- closing
- rounded tips
- inanimate, passive, object
< K, k >
/k/
[ k, g ]
- proximity (and 1st. person)
- beggining, start, preparation
- selectivity, choice
- deglutition, swallowing (because of throat inwards passage)
- expulsion, ejection, expelling (because of throat blocking
function and outwards passage)
- cause
< H, h >
/h/
[ h, ʁ, x, χ ]
- flow, flux, wind
- breath, aspiration, life, animacy
- relief
- movement
- random dispersion
- filling, space filling
- acceptance, affirmation
- abstractness
< T, t >
/t/
[ t, d ]
- pointing, direction, guidance
- straightness, rectitude, right
- righteousness
- front (and 2nd. person)
- snap
- force
- solid
- matter
- concreteness
- union, tight link
< S, s >
/s/
[ ʃ, s, ʒ, z ]
- smoothness, softness, mildness
- liquid
- soft sound, silence, somnolence, calmness
- flow
- friction
- action, movement
< F, f >
/f/
[ f, v, ɸ]
- flow, wind, gas
- proximity, union
- crack, leak
- whisper, intimacy
- sound
- ingeniosity, labor, dedication
- multiplicity
- dispersion
- effect
< P, p >
/p/
[ p, b]
- explosion
- speech
- closing, shutdown
- protection
- expulsion, ejection, expelling
< M, m >
/m/
[ m ]
- interiority, feeling
- filling
- doubt, questioning
- completeness
< N, n >
/n/
[ n ]
- obstruction, rejection
- negation
- landing, arrival
- pointing
< N, n > (before consonant)
(Sandhi)
[ n, m, ɱ, ŋ ]
- emphasis
- prolongation
- extension
- intensification
< L, l >
/l/
[l]
- curve
- locality
- length, extension
- link, relation, linking path
- liquid, humidity
- otherness, alterity (and 3rd. person)
< Ng, ng >
/ŋ/
[ ŋ, ɲ ]
- emotion, emotional engagement
- affection, fondness
- irony
Note: use of "ng" is limited to certain phonetic environments. It's
replaced by "m" in most positions.
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* :
fonsi : sound
hunti : symbol