Editing Openai/681840d9-2618-800d-87e3-3be79047c505 (section)

=== Assistant: Yes—"non-lexical vocable" is the precise term for a spoken sound that has communicative meaning but isn’t a real word e… ===
Yes—"non-lexical vocable" is the precise term for a spoken sound that has communicative meaning but isn’t a real word (e.g., "tsk", "uh", "hm"). But for written representations of these sounds—especially in dialogue or narrative—the most accurate term is:

"verbal gesture" or "paralinguistic marker" (in writing).

Still, there’s no single universal term for a written, non-verbal sound like "tsk" that isn't a word or ideophone. Some close candidates used in linguistic or literary circles include:
* Paralanguage (broad term for non-verbal vocal expression)
* Orthographic representation of non-lexical sounds (in linguistic analysis)

Writers often just call them sound notations or non-verbal interjections.

Bottom line: there’s no widely adopted, one-word label. Closest shorthand might be "non-lexical sound" or "non-verbal vocalization (written)" depending on context.