Jun 9th, 2011, 06:19 am
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Sue | | Join Date: Oct 8th, 2006 Location: Milan
Posts: 1,406
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Re: Ramble/Jabber/Babble/Gabble No. Ramble means to talk at length and boringly without any real organisation or aim : He rambled on for hours about his experiences in the army. It was so boring.
It can also be used to describe the type of speech associated with delirium : By the time his temperature had reached 39°C, he was rambling deliriously. Babble is used as a technical term in linguistics to describe babies' pre-speech vocalisations - the goo goo ga ga noises they make. Babble can also be used to describe disjointed, confused speech affected by emotion - eg : He babbled on excitedly
It's also often used as a noun to describe speech which is too distant or overlapping to hear clearly : He could hear a babble of voices coming from the kitchen. and in various forms to describe multiple sounds in general : A babbling brookGabble means to talk very fast or confusedly so that it's difficult for people to understand : He gabbled something about meeting Mary and rushed out the door. Jabber means to talk in continuation without saying anything very important : My son didn't speak at all till he was three, but then, within a couple of months, he was jabbering away all day.
So each is slightly different. Leaving out the technical use of babble I'd analyse them as : ramble = + at length; - organisation; (possibly) + slow + boring; (possibly) + deliriously babble (verb) = + confusion; + emotion ; babble (noun/adjective) - comprehension; + multiple sounds gabble = + speed; (possibly) + confusion/emotion; - comprehension. jabber : + at length; - importance |