I came across the following in a book I'm reading but have ever seen that kind
of grammar before, and Google isn't bringing anything up at all:

固くし **てみあ**

I'm beginning to think it's a print error. If anyone will know it'll be you
guys on here :)

P.S. the full sentence was: そのとき、腕の中でしどけなく溶けていた猫が急に身を固くしてみあ、と鳴いて。
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2019-10-03T07:39:50.280
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2019-10-03T14:35:07.960
2019-10-03T14:35:07.960
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question
grammar parsing sound-symbolism
Is this an error...?
It's not a typo. This みあ should be a variation of みゃあ or にゃあ ("meow"), and と
is a quotative particle. It will be read like:

> 猫が急に身を固くして、  
>  The cat suddenly went rigid,
>
> 「みあ」と鳴いて。  
>  and said "meow".
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2019-10-03T07:48:20.493
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answer
`みあ` stands for meow, the sound tone of the cat.

> そのとき、腕の中でしどけなく溶けていた猫が急に身を固くしてみあ、と鳴いて。

The whole sentence means

> Suddenly, the cat, which was just lying liquidly in man's arm, quickly
> restored its body, and "meow"-ed out.

(forgive my poor translation -w-||)
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2019-10-03T07:57:46.383
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2019-10-03T09:48:41.743
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answer