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Glite Dictionary
phonestheme

phonestheme

9.9
A sound pattern that appears in many words and suggests a similar meaning, like sn in sniff and sneeze
  • noun
  • /fəˈnɛsθim/
  • Specialized
: fonestema
  • In words like 'glimmer' and 'glow', the phonestheme 'gl-' suggests brightness.

Examples

  • Linguists analyze how the phonestheme 'sn-' in words like 'sneak' and 'snoop' relates to stealth.

  • The study of language shows how a phonestheme can carry specific meanings across different words.

  • Three orders of magnitude is a big conceptual gap, in which the phonestheme was intended to be the major unit.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Rich Rhodes and I were responsible for the next spasm in our 1981 Chicago Linguistic Society paper (hereafter RL81), in which we first made the claim that is perhaps best put as phonesthemes form a classifier system.

    Academic text (2006)

Surface Forms

phonestheme singular
phonesthemes plural

Etymology

The word phonestheme comes from Greek parts: phon- meaning 'sound', as in phone, and -stheme, like theme, meaning 'pattern'. So a phonestheme is a small 'sound pattern' that links similar meanings across different words, for example the 'sn-' in 'sniff' and 'sneeze'.