It is not symbolic, which means that it does not stand for a particular thing or event. The most common nonliteral sound is music. Nonliteral sound can be descriptive and expressive . Descriptive nonliteral sounds describe a certain quality or event. They describe what a thing or event looks like, and tell more about the condition of the thing or event.
Program music is an example of nonliteral descriptive sound.
Expressive nonliteral sound evokes a specific feeling, or mood. A musical fugue or sonata is an example of expressive non literal sound. Predictive sound signals a future happening. Selective sound works on the figure-ground principle. Sound perspective means that the video vectors and the audio vectors should correspond in their respective magnitudes.