oldman1958 - The Monday Morning Memo

The fine print on this 1958 movie poster says,
“This was the 85th day he went out… this was the day
all Hell and Heaven and Hemingway would break loose…”

“

In ad writing, the sound of a word matters as much as its meaning.

If you want to understand the power of the SOUNDS of words, study obstruent and sonorant phonemes.

The image of letters of the alphabet are called graphemes. But the SOUNDs represented by those graphemes – and certain combinations of graphemes – are called PHONEMES.

Obstruent Phonemes:

These sounds are characterized by turbulent noise and a significant constriction of airflow. Obstruents include stops, affricates, and fricatives. For example, the sounds /p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, and /k/ and /g/ are all obstruents. Obstruents are consonants and have low sonority, meaning they can’t be the nucleus of a syllable.

Sonorant Phonemes:

These sounds are characterized by continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract, allowing for louder resonance. Sonorants include vowels, glides, liquids, and nasals. For example, the sounds [j], [w], [m], [n], [l], and [r] are all sonorants. Sonorants can include both vowels and consonants

The phonemes contained in your chosen word – combined with the associative memories triggered by that word – are of much greater impact than the simple definition of that word.

If you understand what you just read, you have the makings of a powerful writer.”

- Roy H. Williams

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