Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme! (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Eric, the buzzer comes close but it's still merely interjectional. CBS's
"eeeeeeeee" is actually used in a phrase.

JL

On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 12:55 AM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme! (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I would think the obnoxious buzzer sound used on game shows and the like to
> indicate a wrong answer may qualify as a morph/phoneme as well. It's often
> heard in conversation and on TV where a character will say something like:
> "
> "aaaaaa"  that's not the answer I want." or
> " "aaaaaa" you lose."
>
> Language in the future may include more and more electronic sounds based on
> pitch (as in A 440) and timbre. These sounds could be understood
> universally
> and transcend present language barriers.
>
> Eric
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 3:58 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme!
> (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > ....A speech sound that carries a perceived meaning,  rather than exists
> > simply
> > as a part of the language's system of speech sounds, is traditionally
> > called
> > a morpheme.  So "eeeeeeee" would thus be both a phoneme and a morpheme
> > (like
> > / ^ /,  which allows one to pronounce the word "a.").  But unlike the
> word
> > "a," it would have numerous meanings linked by the unusual feature
> > [+thought
> > naughty by unhip old people].
> >
> > But perhaps the show will flop and Cap'n Kirk will go back to his great
> > Priceline commercials. ("You win *this* time...good twin!!!!" [Cue sound
> > effect of vanishing in smoke.])
> >
> > Or perhaps we're making too much of this.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
>
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