Manipulate the Reader’s Emotions with Phonetics
A while back, I got hard-stuck during the editing of a specific section of prose because no matter what I did, I couldn’t make it sound right. This is the original version:
“The heavy oak door rolls open. I cross the threshold of a dead memory; through the rendering of every nightmare I’ve had the last fifteen years.
As is, the lines are… fine. Information was delivered with an acceptable degree of personal style. I liked the grammar and syntax. However, it didn’t convey the vivid dread I imagined before putting my fingers to the keyboard; it didn’t resonate like the narrative voice in my head.
Enter phonetics: the study of words, sound, and how the brain interprets them. I decided to take my time studying it until I attained a level of knowledge enabling me to make the following edits to the above passage.
“The broad elm doors unfold and I cross the threshold of lifeless reminiscence; into a place that resides in every nightmare I’ve endured the last fifteen years.
If that’s the type of change you’re looking to make to your writing, great. This article will likely help you.
I know this can be an intimidating topic to a lot of writers who aren’t academics or interested in lexical science, because it overwhelmed me when I started studying it. Therefore, my goal is to make this subject as simple and practical as possible. I don’t have a formal background in this stuff either, with no motivations other than learning how to be good at what I do, so I’m all about applicability.
How is this useful to you?
Psycholinguists and neuroscientists have mapped out phoneme (a phoneme is each individual sound within a word) associations in a linguistics subsection called Sound Symbolism. They’ve shown these connections by tracking brain activity while people read certain words.
The effects can change across languages, so if you write in anything other than English, I’d suggest looking at some research done on your preferred language.
Because of this research, we know prose writers can manipulate neural activity by injecting specific phonemes into sections where they want to create precise mental images.Horror authors such as Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, and Edgar Allan Poe often use phonetics to deepen the emotional impact of their work. One of the most famous examples of this is found in the opening paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson uses t, k, p, d, g, b and sometimes c to create tension and valleys almost devoid of any plosives to build polarity. I’m going to show you in this excerpt by italicizing each of those letters in the excerpt below.
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Those letters are ‘plosives’, which we’ll go over soon. This isn’t the only method Jackson applies to create the infamous dread in this paragraph, but it’s one of the more infectious techniques she uses.
What is phonetics?
At its core and put simply, phonetics is the study of speech sounds that can be defined in three ways:
1. Manner of Articulation
This covers the precise noise you make at each part of a word. We don’t need to go over all the Manner and Phoneme types because they become far more specific than is necessary for this article, so we’ll focus on the five primary forms.
Plosive: t, p, k, b, d, g
Nasal: m, n
Fricative: f, s, v, z
Affricate: ch, j
Approximant: w, r, i
2. Place of Articulation
This refers to where in the mouth, nose, or throat the sound is coming from.
Upper lip
Lower lip
Tongue tip
Tongue blade
Underside of tongue
Tongue body
Root of tongue
Larynx
Here’s a link to a very straightforward tool that’s built to help ESL learners. It goes over all the phoneme symbols and their corresponding sounds in detail, which can guide you through any additional questions you might have about Manner or Place of Articulation.
3. Voiced vs. Unvoiced
This is referencing your vocal chords’ vibration level when you enunciate the consonant sound. Vowels are always voiced, consonants vary depending on context.
A good way to demonstrate the difference:
Place your fingers on the front of your throat and say “ahhhh” like when doctors do the thing with the popsicle stick in your mouth. You’ll feel the vibration associated with voiced consonants. Then make a ‘sss’ noise like a snake, and you’ll notice: no vibration.
Techniques/Effects
Now we can go over the prosodic fruits that phonetics manipulation can produce, strategies to create those effects, as well as some examples of what the result of each technique feels like.
Ticking Clock Effect
Uses the hard-stop plosive phonemes /t/, /p/, /k/, and the letter c if it mimics /k/. However, the letters t, k, p, don’t qualify if vowels flank the plosive (e.g. Natural, dominated, a feeling, hope) because they suppress too much of the plosive force to make them effective. It also doesn’t qualify if it’s part of a phoneme that silences the plosive or changes its Place of Articulation (e.g. That, pheromones, morph, father)
Why it Works for Horror
Creates the tension of a countdown or slow passage of time
Phonemes to Avoid
Don’t use liquids (i.e. /l/ as in ‘lose’, /r/ as in ‘red’) or glides ( i.e. /w/ as in ‘water’, /y/ as in ‘unique’ ‘buy’ and ‘few’) because they round the plosives similar to vowels.
Variations:
Representing something that is inflicting small, subliminal attacks upon the protagonist’s sense of comfort.
The sparkling teak parquet and sweet peony scent don’t belong in this unoccupied space. Where’s the dust? The lifeless air?
Giving a jagged or sharp quality to objects, settings, or people.
Looking at those pictures awakens a question that reverberates, cracks, and moves again in a long-abandoned cave.
Looming Effect
Uses rounded vowels like in these words: note, look, rule, boot, and boat. They’re called ‘rounded’ vowels because your lips become rounded and your vocal tract relaxes when you pronounce them, which creates a deeper tone inside your mouth.
Why it works for Horror
This effect works because the brain associates low-frequency decibel with collosal size and depth.
Phonemes to Avoid:
Frontal vowels like bit, bead, kiss, sit, seat
Variations
To make something feel deep/cosmic
The unknown moves through a long-abandoned hollow.
To reflect the massive scale of an object or person
Tom consumes the room and scowls at my father. The tune stops.
Predator Effect
Uses high pitched, sharp sibilants (i.e. /s/ as in ‘piss’, /z/ as in ‘zip’, and /ʃ/ as in “hush“) to mimic the sound of predators such as snakes, alligators, cats, etc.
Why it Works for Horror
Mimicing the sound of predators raises baseline anxiety
Phonemes to Avoid:
Heavy plosives /b/, /d/, and /g/ because they force the breath into the back of the mouth.
Variations
To build paranoia
Sam smiles when he touches my wrist; I’m sure I’ve seen him somewhere.
Combine with the Looming Effect to create an invasive atmosphere
Pale eyes touch my own as they move across the water, as I watch the man crawl upstream.
Focus on the ‘sh’ sound to elicit a hushed ambiance/mood
Phee fights violent spasms; tears sparkle on her cheeks. Where is she? Why is she even in this situation?
Liquid Effect
Uses /l/ as in ‘lost’ and /r/ as in ‘rose’, the so-called ‘liquid’ consonants.
Why it Works for Horror
These two have a distinctive sleekness to them, elliciting the image of fluid.
Phonemes to Avoid:
Sharp plosives such as /t/, /p/, /k/ because they add too much conflict.
Dull plosives like /b/, /d/, /g/ are okay, but try to limit them.
Variations
Combine with sibilance to signal a dissolving, paranoid mind.
He leans on the door and I swallow a rising sob. My vision dims as I glance around the walls and floors; I’m in a women’s wash room.
Imply the presense of liquid rather than outright stating it.
A flash of the yellow room swirls through my memory; an earthen aroma in the air and the hum of silver slowly whirling round the base of the enameled china. Revolving, roiling.
Combine with Looming Effect to create the impression of a vast ocean
A low blue sun sailed along a boundless gorge of glass. My legs were burning, everyone was gone, and I was cold.
Choking Effect
Uses sounds produced at the back of the mouth (/k/ as in ‘kid’, /g/ as in ‘gore’, /ŋ/ as in ‘sang’ and ‘singer’, and /ks/ as in ‘exercise’ and ‘success’) to mimic the sound and experience of choking and gagging. Combine with neighbor liquids (e.g. “gr”, “cl”, “gl”) to amplify it.
Why it Works for Horror
Because this technique physically mimics a sensation, it forces you into an adrenaline spike when they read tight clusters of this effect, creating a powerful connection between narrator and reader during high-tension moments.
Phonemes to Avoid:
Variations
To signal panic
His feet sledge the ground close behind me, gaining fast. I clip left through the door, clambering into the guest room and slamming the door.
To build suspense/tension
I can’t tell the exact time when I wake up because the darkess has lingered. Forensic Files is still on, now muted, flicking icy light across the umber walls.
Final Notes:
I’m going to make phonetic effects an on-going topic that I cover every once in a while because there are a lot of techniques and I’m always encountering novel ones. So, this is not an exhaustive list.
Also, there isn’t a right or wrong way to implement phonetics, as long as you can apply it with prudence and precision. It’s tempting to use new knowledge in public work soon after learning about it, but it’s necessary to experiment and see how it fits into your personal voice before using it on any important pieces.
Further Reading
This is an piece in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy covering Plato’s Cratylus, which is a fascinating foray into ancient linguistics, giving insight into how far back the discussion of phonetics goes.
Here is the ESL site again.
Here are some Phoneme and Manners indexes. The second one includes a long list of other phonetic terms that can be fun to learn.
This is a comprehensive article about everything psycholinguists study, which goes far beyond Sound Symbolism. It also discusses new research in the field, which is cool to read about.
This is a study done on Sound Symbolism using fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging
