noun
definition
A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning.
definition
A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song.
Examples of vocables in a Sentence
The spoken languages of northern India are very various, differing one from another in the sort of degree that English differs from German, though all are thoroughly Sanskritic in their vocables, but with an absence of Sanskrit grammar that has given rise to considerable discussion.
Professors Peter Jensen and Zimmern have also done excellent work in the same field and, together with Haupt, have established the correct method of investigating the Sumerian vocables, which should be studied only in relation to the Sumerian literature.
He could not recognize such vocables as the impersonals for what they were, and had perforce to ignore the logical significance of purely reciprocal judgments, such as those of equality.
As regards the tonic, accent and the treatment of the vowels which come after it, Castilian may be said to be essentially a paroxytonic language, though it does not altogether refuse proparoxytonic accentuation and it would be a mistake to regard vocables like 1dm para, lagrima, rdpido, &c., as learned words.
It has adopted a certain number of vocables from Sanskrit, Malay, Javanese and Portuguese, but on the whole is remarkably pure, and has undergone comparatively few recent changes.
Afterwards, as the knowledge of the old language declined, and the study of philology arose, more attention began to be paid to the explanation of vocables.