FW: a word/

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:42 AM -0500 2/19/07, hpst at earthlink.net wrote:
>Ladies and Gentlemen and those of you who are neither,
>
>A friend sent  me the following request.
>
>I once again need a word: You know about homophones, words that
>sound alike but have different meanings. Now I need a word for words
>that sound similar (but not identical like in homophones) and have
>different meanings. I'm working on some East Javanese verses and in
>the process of transcribing this oral tradition, many (badly
>trained) researchers come up with words that have some phonetic
>connection to a possible original, but one has to search. I'm
>thinking of simi-phones (similar sounding words), but maybe there is
>something in use already.

You probably aren't interested in "near-homophones", which I've
certainly encountered, but it does have the advantage of transparency.

LH

>Does such a word exist?
>
>If you guys can't find one I will tell my friend Robert that he
>should coin his own.
>
>Please send me anything you have on the subject, and I will forward it to him.
>
>Page Stephens
>
>hpst at earthlink.net
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org