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What's in a Name? Sound Symbolism and Gender in First Names.

ABSTRACT: Although the arbitrariness of language has been considered one of its defining features, studies have demonstrated that certain phonemes tend to be associated with certain kinds of meaning. A well-known example is the Bouba/Kiki effect, in which nonwords like bouba are associated with round shapes while nonwords like kiki are associated with sharp shapes. These sound symbolic associations have thus far been limited to nonwords. Here we tested whether or not the Bouba/Kiki effect extends to existing lexical stimuli; in particular, real first names. We found that the roundness/sharpness of the phonemes in first names impacted whether the names were associated with round or sharp shapes in the form of character silhouettes (Experiments 1a and 1b). We also observed an association between femaleness and round shapes, and maleness and sharp shapes. We next investigated whether this association would extend to the features of language and found the proportion of round-sounding phonemes was related to name gender (Analysis of Category Norms). Finally, we investigated whether sound symbolic associations for first names would be observed for other abstract properties; in particular, personality traits (Experiment 2). We found that adjectives previously judged to be either descriptive of a figuratively 'round' or a 'sharp' personality were associated with names containing either round- or sharp-sounding phonemes, respectively. These results demonstrate that sound symbolic associations extend to existing lexical stimuli, providing a new example of non-arbitrary mappings between form and meaning.

SUBMITTER: Sidhu DM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4446333 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Cross-modal interactions between auditory and haptic perception manifest themselves in language, such as sound symbolic words: crunch, splash, and creak. Several studies have shown strong associations between sound symbolic words, shapes (e.g., Bouba/Kiki effect), and materials. Here, we identified these material associations in Turkish sound symbolic words and then tested for their effect on softness perception. First, we used a rating task in a semantic differentiation method to extract the perceived softness dimensions from words and materials. We then tested whether Turkish onomatopoeic words can be used to manipulate the perceived softness of everyday materials such as honey, silk, or sand across different dimensions of softness. In the first preliminary study, we used 40 material videos and 29 adjectives in a rating task with a semantic differentiation method to extract the main softness dimensions. A principal component analysis revealed seven softness components, including Deformability, Viscosity, Surface Softness, and Granularity, in line with the literature. The second preliminary study used 27 onomatopoeic words and 21 adjectives in the same rating task. Again, the findings aligned with the literature, revealing dimensions such as Viscosity, Granularity, and Surface Softness. However, no factors related to Deformability were found due to the absence of sound symbolic words in this category. Next, we paired the onomatopoeic words and material videos based on their associations with each softness dimension. We conducted a new rating task, synchronously presenting material videos and spoken onomatopoeic words. We hypothesized that congruent word-video pairs would produce significantly higher ratings for dimension-related adjectives, while incongruent word-video pairs would decrease these ratings, and the ratings of unrelated adjectives would remain the same. Our results revealed that onomatopoeic words selectively alter the perceived material qualities, providing evidence and insight into the cross-modality of perceived softness.

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What's in a Name? Sound Symbolism and Gender in First Names.

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