sonority etymology

Etymology

  • Comes from the Latin word "sonorus," meaning "sounding" or "resonant."
  • "Sonorus" is derived from the root "son" (sound) and the suffix "-orus" (abundant or characterized by).

Meaning

Sonority refers to the relative loudness or prominence of a speech sound or syllable.

Origin

The term "sonority scale" was first proposed by linguist Daniel Jones in his 1918 book "The Classification of English Phonemes." Jones established a hierarchy of sounds based on their perceived loudness, with vowels being the most sonorous and voiceless stops being the least sonorous.

The sonority hierarchy is often depicted using the following scale:

  • Vowels
  • Diphthongs
  • Nasals
  • Liquids (l, r)
  • Glides (w, j)
  • Voiced fricatives
  • Voiceless fricatives
  • Voiced stops
  • Voiceless stops

Other Meanings

In phonetics, sonority can also refer to the spectral characteristics that make a sound more or less resonant or pleasing to the ear. In music, sonority refers to the overall sound quality or "timbre" of a musical instrument or ensemble.

sonority relate terms

  • sonorous

    Etymology Latin sonorus Proto Indo European swen to sound to ring Meaning P

  • gamut

    Etymology From Old French gamut from Medieval Latin gamma ut derived from the first t

  • timber

    Etymology and Origin The word timber comes from the Old English word timber which i

  • timbre

    Etymology French timbre Latin timbrus tympanum Greek τύμπανον tympanon

  • quality

    Etymology The word quality derives from the Latin word qualitas which means nature

  • note

    Etymology Note comes from the Latin word nota meaning mark or sign Meaning A

  • tone

    Etymology Origin Middle English toune from Old English tun meaning enclosed set

  • atone

    Etymology Old English atōnian atone reconcile from Proto Germanic atōnōjan sour

  • authority

    Etymology The word authority comes from the Latin word auctoritas which means inf

  • assess

    Etymology Etymology refers to the study of the origin and evolution of words and the chan

  • diligence

    Etymology Diligence comes from the Latin word diligentia which is derived from the ve