Clanging

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In psychology and psychiatry, clanging or clang association refers to a mode of speech and logical association to two or more words primarily based upon word sounds when no logical association between the words exists. For example, rhyming or alliteration may lead to the appearance of logical connections where none in fact exists. This, just one manifestation amongst a more general spectrum of thought disorders, is associated with the irregular thinking apparent in psychotic mental illnesses (e.g. schizophrenia).

An example of a clang association, as spoken by a person experiencing a hypomanic or manic bipolar episode could be "he raged at the hypocrisy of the aristocracy democracy." While the sentence masquerades as a sort of sharp criticism of a democracy which has gone aristocratic and the hypocrisy of such a change to a democracy, the sentence itself, is patently absurd. Moreover, the clang association itself must be taken into consideration with other thoughts expressed by the speaker. Often, the clang association is used to punctuate a rambling stream-of-consciousness-train with a pithy, poetic phrase. The key to distinguishing the sentence as a clang association is two-fold: one, the sentence has the alliterative rhyming to it AND the conspiracy/persecution associations (or other bizarre implications of such a phrase), a behavior commonly expressed by those afflicted with some behavioral disorders.

Most clang associations could be less thoughtful and more about the alliteration or rhyming than the actual meaning behind them. (In other words, they're usually nonsense.)

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