Meanings
- historicaluncountableA technique for learning by listening to recordings of spoken material, while asleep or awake.
If we could acquire language through hypnotic suggestion or through dormiphonics such expectations would be legitimate. But language is a matter of growth, and growth is a function of time, nature, and nurture.
1974, Warren C. Born, Toward Student-centered Foreign-language Programs, page 1601 more example
The apparent lack of pedagogical success of the dormiphonics technique is substantiated by recent theoretical work in the area of L2 acquisition, which raises questions about the possibility of unconscious learning […]
2005, Yong Zhao, Research in Technology and Second Language Learning, page 67
Origin
From Latin dormiō (“sleep”) + Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”) + -ics.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
dormiphonics. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dormiphonics
“dormiphonics.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dormiphonics. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dormiphonics,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dormiphonics.
Source: dormiphonics on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.