Gleam-glum effect reveals emotional word cues in children as young as five

The words "tick-tock," "hiss" and "screech" are examples of onomatopoeia because they imitate the sounds they represent: the rhythmic ticking of a clock; an angry cat, or a slowly deflating bike tire; a high-pitched scream. Onomatopoeia is a type of sound symbolism.

Originally published at Phys.org