When I was young and still learning to read, I often saw "tsk tsk" in print, and pronounced it "tisk tisk." Somewhere along the way a kind soul pointed out to me that it was actually pronounced as a clicking sound by snapping the tongue off the upper palate. I already knew and used that clicking sound, but that's when the light went on and I realized there was sometimes a need to "spell" sounds that could be "pronounced," but couldn't really be properly spelled using any combination of letters in the English alphabet.
I realize that clicking sounds are common in some other languages, and likely have their own special symbols/letters in those languages.
So my question is: what is the formal name or description for the situation where this happens … words that can be pronounced but not formally spelled? I'm sure there must be other examples.
[later edit]
I did find this commentary ("tsk" is mentioned in the very last paragraph):
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE4D71E31F93BA15750C0A96F958260
and this very interesting discussion of "achoo," the sound of a sneeze:
http://www.thereeltodd.com/2008/08/sneezing-achoo.html
But still no info about what the phenomena is called. Notoriously difficult to Google. I'm waiting for some wisdom here …
Yes, I see the problem with trying to Google it: it's virtually impossible to form a description that would lead to the right answer, assuming that it exists. How frustrating.
Incidentally, my wife is invariably an ah-chooer. Always I'm tempted to ridicule, always I think better of it. I tend to do something more like hud-ztheeyah.
Peter
I've read a few books in which "tsk tsk" is written as "making a clucking sound."
The only reference I found was Examples Of Onomatopoeia
Add: "uh-huh," "huh-uh," "uh-uh," "huh," "hmm," and "hmph". And I'd like to see someone spell the "I don't know" sound that accompanies a shrug and a stupid look – a long "uhhhh" with a rise and fall in it.
telemath said:
And I'd like to see someone spell the "I don't know" sound that accompanies a shrug and a stupid look – a long "uhhhh" with a rise and fall in it.
Yeah, that's a great example. It's all about inflection and not pronunciation. Yet when you hear it, the meaning is always apparent. In my search for an answer to the original question, I discovered that in some Eastern languages an inflection actually changes the meaning, but I have no idea how those inflections are captured in the spelling. I don't speak Mandarin.
I was frustrate by online searches for an answer. For example, a search for "words that can't be spelled" got 980 hits. Invariably, those hits were talking about the failings of phonetics/phonics. "Sounds that can't be spelled" fared even worse.
This might turn out to be one of those questions best called-in to the show. Surely Grant or Martha would have some insights.
telemath said:
Add: "uh-huh," "huh-uh," "uh-uh," "huh," "hmm," and "hmph".
Either P.G. Wodehouse or Georgette Heyer used the spelling "imphm." It took me the longest time to realize that it represented "uh-huh" said with the mouth closed.
Peter