Date:  Fri, 22 Mar 1996 10:02:23 -0600

From:  Samuel Jones <smjones1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]FACSTAFF.WISC.EDU>

Subject: Re: Pseudo-Imitatives / "Conventionalized" Exclamations /     &

     "Semanticized" Utterances or Noises



>From Dennis Preston:



> "Since I use 'jeetchet' in my beginning classes as an example of allegro

>speech processes and specifically relate it to 'did you eat yet,' I am

>surprised to find it on a list of 'non-words,' particularly since the

>'jeet' part requires, at least for me, an 'underlying' 'did.'

>I will avoid extensive discussion of the more philsophical question about

>the word status of some of the other items on this list, but I think one

>would like to distinguish several levels . . ."



>1) Pseudoimitatives



>2) A middle category: items which appear to be 'conventionalizing'

  . . . sounds

>3) 'Semanticized' noises"



________________________________________________________________________________



Thank you!!



I found his posting both informative and fun, and it prompts me to

ask about "harrumph," which HAS made it into some dictionaries. I

may be in error, but I seem to remember a cartoon character, called

Major Hoople, who frequently uttered/exclaimed "Harrumph!" This was

a strip from the late 1920's(?) and through the 1930's(?). I recall

my father often saying, "At the meeting with the county agent, 'Old

Mr. - - - - - - ' "harrrummphed" his way through the evening." And we

all knew (or THOUGHT we knew?) exactly what my father meant.



Ergo, does "harrumph" fall into the category of "humph"? And, can also

be fixed in "time" with a past tense? 'Old Mr. - - - - - - ' was also

referred to as an "old harrumpher," as well as a "harrumphy old man."

How does this fit?



By the way, I remember our Oklahoma boars (no pun intended!) as

beginning THEIR noises with a dark, muffled, deep-throated retroflex-r

sound rather than



    >"GGGGGmmmmppph. (The noise a real pig makes)"



Perhaps it was only a bit of gas?



smjones









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