The answer to that is, to my knowledge, not quite clear. Most of the time, people speak in a solid string of sounds with little or no breaks between the sounds of the words (i.e. the ending of one word goes right into the beginning of the next word). How we learn to compartmentalize certain strings of sounds into discernible and discrete words is not well elucidated.
Hi James Robertson! How's it going?
We're really asking: Where do words come from? As you ask how we form tones into words, we might as well ask where the "tones" come from. In asking where the tones come from, we are back at one of the core, primordial questions of human existence: What is the connection between thought and language?
One way to look at this is to consider the way we create slang and jargon everyday. Example: "Kerfluffle."
"Kerfluffle" (pronounced ker + fluffle) is a made up word. It is a piece of jargon which, as far as I can tell, has it origins in the politically centrist, liberal-leaning, journalistic world of public radio and television news broadcasting.
Kerfluffle signifies a ongoing controversy that surrounds something said by a newsmaker. For example, years back, President Obama, on the campaign trail, said something about rural people "clinging to their guns and religion.
The backlash this caused might be described as a "kerfluffle." If we really think about it, we can imagine the process the person went through when she, or whoever, invented or "coined" the term.
She must have thought to herself: "How can I describe this?"
She must have done what you and I and everyone does when we're trying to invent or coin a term, or string words together in a new way to try to express a new concept.
She must have sat there, thinking, working her mouth, trying to come up with a term and a sound that seems to fit.
She must have said to herself: "ruffle... buffle... cuffle.... fluffle?" She must have said to herself: "I need something to go with it..." She must have said : "What?... fluffle?" "bur... cur...fur ker? What's a "ker"? "Wait...'ker... fluffle?"
"Eureka!" she must have eventually said to herself: "Kerfluffle."
Whatever situation she was inventing the word for, must have "felt" like something of a "fluffle" or even a "cluster-fruitcake" not the word. She may have been looking for a more polite term and came up with "kerfluffle."
Somehow the situation encompasses the sound-feeling-concept of a, shall we say, a "muffle." The uffle sound feels like something that is all "discombobulated," does it not?
Hope that helps, Mr. Robertson!
Take it easy!
Today we're going to think about how we form tones into words. read more
by neakin 14 years ago
What qualities do men look for in a woman?
by Grace Marguerite Williams 10 years ago
Do you believe that in order for a person to be highly successful, he/she MUST attain at least apostgraduate degree, preferably in the STEM subjects-science, technology, engineering,& math or if he/she has a postgraduate degree in the soft sciences & humanities, he/she must either...
by Laurel Rogers 13 years ago
be awARE, i'll write this as i HEAR it!has anyone actually DONE THIS? i try to write with both lowercase AND UPPERcase letters inDIVIDually to communicate my VOICE, my intention through my words.ex: "he was ONE HOT DUDE, don't you THINK? and HERE, the question mark SWINGS UPWARD to...
by Ana Carolina Medina 13 years ago
What are some essential qualities to look for in your ideal or potential mate?
by Jennifer Arnett 6 years ago
Does anyone have any tips for beginning to write poetry?I haven't written very many poems in my life. It's just not something I'm good at, but I would like to get better. Thank you!
by cashmere 13 years ago
How does one teach Children phonetics?What simple methods can one use?
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |