VOCAL IMITATION. gi 



as imitative of the contrasted sounds which the words name, 

 yet some of their significance is due to the enlarged internal 

 contour of the mouth in the utterance of croak as compared 

 with the contracted position of the vocal organs in uttering 

 creak. The first position of the vocal parts is felt as big, the 

 second little. Spid is felt to be imitative of sound, but the r 

 of sputter is not: if imitative at all, it is of repetition, and 

 repetition is motion. Tramp and trample, if simply onomato- 

 poetic, would have no distinction in their imitative signifi- 

 cance. Yet we are conscious that there is in trample a quick 

 repetition of motion that does not exist in tramp. One could 

 tramp solemnly, but he could hardly trample solemnly. If, 

 therefore, tramp imitates sound, the / of trainple imitates 

 motion. A zigzag makes no noise, but the contrast of vowel 

 in the repeated syllable is somehow imitative of the changed 

 direction or course in making the figure named, and this is a 

 form of motion. 



It is to be understood in considering the examples to be 

 produced that the etymological origin of the consonants or 

 vowels imitating sound, motion and mass is not within the 

 province of this study. Indeed, etymology must be ignored 

 in order thoroughly to weigh the present imitative value of 

 these sounds. Be their origin what it may, the sounds are 

 felt by present speakers to be directly representative of certain 

 characteristics of external objects. 



The specimens illustrating the present proposition that 

 motion and mass, as well as sound, are directly imitated, even 

 in a cultured language such as English, may be grouped as 

 follows : — 



(i) Final L and R imitating quick, repeated, rotary 

 movements, or things and effects produced by such move- 

 ments, as jiggle and jigger compared with jig , and whirl. 



(2) Repeated syllables imitating reciprocal, changing 

 motion or opposing direction, or things and effects produced 

 thereby, contrasted by having either 



