[Ads-l] Media request (Business Insider) about language and nature

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Andy Bach wrote:
> There was a recent "Now I Know" blog
> http://nowiknow.com/the-surprising-story-behind-the-sound-of-sneezes/
>
> about the various sounds of sneezes, onomatopoeia they may be, but there's
> a lot of them:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneeze#Sound

That is a fascinating example. The onomatopoeic representation of a
sneeze as "achoo" in English was influenced by the sound. In addition,
the pronunciation of the word "achoo" helped to mold the partially
involuntary sound emitted while sneezing. The wide variety of
representations for a sneeze suggests that a similar feedback loop
exists in other languages.

Garson


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

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