Words commonly group this way, sharing both meaning and a vague resemblance of sound. "ecently I had cause to check the thesaurus for synonyms for 'unchaste, wanton.' Is it a coincidence that so many of these words began with 'l' - licentious, lascivious, loose, lubricous, lecherous, libidinous, lustful, lickerish and lewd, to name a few? Somehow this luscious, liquidy l-sound seems well suited to convey the sense of wantonness. Another initial is sn-, found in words dealing with the nose: snore, snorkel, sniff, sniffle, snuffle, snuff, snivel, snout, snoot, snub, snot, snob, snotty, sneer, sneeze, snoop (Bolinger 1965b:197, Spencer 1991:33) Phonesthemes do not have to be initial in words they may also be final. "The best-known examples are English initials such as fl-, which is expressive of movement and characterizes a family of words, as in: flap, flare, flee, flick, flicker, fling, flip, flit, flitter, flow, flutter, fly, flurry, flounce, flourish, flout, flail, flash, flex, flinch, flock, flop (actually, this is just a partial list since there seem to be about 125 words with this phonestheme. It is probably not an accident that these words also contain the phonaestheme. You can see this if you watch yourself in a mirror saying words like mumble, murmur, mutter, muted, grumble etc. That way, the very act of pronouncing the word iconically mimics a key aspect of its meaning. "Many words which mean 'to talk indistinctly' contain one or more occurrences of the labial consonant, which is made with the lips firmly closed, preventing clear articulation.
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