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purely acoustic phenomena. Some scholars suggest that words may imitate through their sound form certain unacoustic features and qualities of inanimate objects, actions and processes or that the mean-ing of the word can be regarded as the immediate relation of the sound group to the object. If a young chicken or kitten is described as fluffy there seems to be something in the sound of the adjective that conveys the softness and the downy quality of its plumage or its fur. Such verbs as to glance, to glide, to slide, to slip are supposed to con-vey by their very sound the nature of the smooth, easy movement over a slippery surface. The sound form of the words shimmer, glim-mer, glitter seems to reproduce the wavering, tremulous nature of the faint light. The sound of the verbs to rush, to dash, to flash may be said to reflect the brevity, swiftness and energetic nature of their cor-responding actions. The word thrill has something in the quality of its sound that very aptly conveys the tremulous, tingling sensation it ex-presses.
purely acoustic phenomena. Some scholars suggest that words may imitate through their sound form certain unacoustic features and qualities of inanimate objects, actions and processes or that the mean-ing of the word can be regarded as the immediate relation of the sound group to the object. If a young chicken or kitten is described as fluffy there seems to be something in the sound of the adjective that conveys the softness and the downy quality of its plumage or its fur. Such verbs as to glance, to glide, to slide, to slip are supposed to con-vey by their very sound the nature of the smooth, easy movement over a slippery surface. The sound form of the words shimmer, glim-mer, glitter seems to reproduce the wavering, tremulous nature of the faint light. The sound of the verbs to rush, to dash, to flash may be said to reflect the brevity, swiftness and energetic nature of their cor-responding actions. The word thrill has something in the quality of its sound that very aptly conveys the tremulous, tingling sensation it ex-presses.
2. Why are words borrowed?