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A
nonsense word, unlike a
sememeA sememe is a semantic language unit of meaning, correlative to a morpheme.A sememe is a proposed unit of transmitted or intended meaning; it is atomic or indivisible. A sememe can be the meaning expressed by a morpheme, such as the English pluralizing morpheme -s, which carries the sememic...
, may have no definition. If it can be pronounced according to a language's
phonotacticsPhonotactics is a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a language on the permissible combinations of phonemes...
, it is a
logatomeA logatome is an artificial word of one or more syllables which obeys all the phonotactic rules of a language but has no meaning. Examples of English logatomes would be the nonsense words snarp or bluck....
. Nonsense words are
used in literatureA literary technique is any element or the entirety of elements a writer intentionally uses in the structure of their work...
for
poeticPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
or
humorousHumour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
effect. Proper names of real or fictional entities are sometimes nonsense words.
See also
- Nonce word
A nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was formerly a nonce word in English, appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Murray Gell-Mann then adopted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
- Nonsense syllable
In cognitive psychology, a nonsense syllable is a word-like string of letters that is not intended to have any established meaning; it is a special case of a non-lexical vocable...
- Nonsense verse
Nonsense verse is a form of light, often rhythmical verse, usually for children, depicting peculiar characters in amusing and fantastical situations. It is whimsical and humorous in tone and tends to employ fanciful phrases and meaningless made-up words. Nonsense verse is closely related to...
- Neologism
- Vocable
In speech, a vocable is an utterance, term, or word that is capable of being spoken and recognized. A non-lexical vocable is used without semantic role or meaning, while structure of vocables is often considered apart from any meaning...
- Word salad
Word Salad is a 1979 debut album by Fischer-Z. John Watts and Steve Skolnik formed the band in 1976 whilst at Brunel University. John Watts had been travelling up and down the country playing the club circuit. Fischer-Z was playing a crossover of the New Wave, Punk and Reggae genres...