Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers
Contrary to the assumption of arbitrariness in modern linguistics, sound symbolism, which is the non-arbitrary relationship between sounds and meanings, exists. Sound symbolism, including the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, implies the universality of such relationships; individuals from different cultural and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.830306/full |
| _version_ | 1819023783248265216 |
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| author | Li Shan Wong Jinhwan Kwon Zane Zheng Suzy J. Styles Maki Sakamoto Ryo Kitada Ryo Kitada |
| author_facet | Li Shan Wong Jinhwan Kwon Zane Zheng Suzy J. Styles Maki Sakamoto Ryo Kitada Ryo Kitada |
| author_sort | Li Shan Wong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Contrary to the assumption of arbitrariness in modern linguistics, sound symbolism, which is the non-arbitrary relationship between sounds and meanings, exists. Sound symbolism, including the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, implies the universality of such relationships; individuals from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds can similarly relate sound-symbolic words to referents, although the extent of these similarities remains to be fully understood. Here, we examined if subjects from different countries could similarly infer the surface texture properties from words that sound-symbolically represent hardness in Japanese. We prepared Japanese sound-symbolic words of which novelty was manipulated by a genetic algorithm (GA). Japanese speakers in Japan and English speakers in both Singapore and the United States rated these words based on surface texture properties (hardness, warmness, and roughness), as well as familiarity. The results show that hardness-related words were rated as harder and rougher than softness-related words, regardless of novelty and countries. Multivariate analyses of the ratings classified the hardness-related words along the hardness-softness dimension at over 80% accuracy, regardless of country. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the number of speech sounds /g/ and /k/ predicted the ratings of the surface texture properties in non-Japanese countries, suggesting a systematic relationship between phonetic features of a word and perceptual quality represented by the word across culturally and linguistically diverse samples. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T04:44:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-46ecb804fc4f4a0ba07e2f71a2793912 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T04:44:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-46ecb804fc4f4a0ba07e2f71a27939122022-12-21T19:15:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-03-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.830306830306Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English SpeakersLi Shan Wong0Jinhwan Kwon1Zane Zheng2Suzy J. Styles3Maki Sakamoto4Ryo Kitada5Ryo Kitada6Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, SingaporeFaculty of Education, Kyoto University of Education, Kyoto, JapanDepartment of Psychology, Lasell University, Newton, MA, United StatesDivision of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, SingaporeDepartment of Informatics, Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, JapanDivision of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, SingaporeGraduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Kobe, JapanContrary to the assumption of arbitrariness in modern linguistics, sound symbolism, which is the non-arbitrary relationship between sounds and meanings, exists. Sound symbolism, including the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, implies the universality of such relationships; individuals from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds can similarly relate sound-symbolic words to referents, although the extent of these similarities remains to be fully understood. Here, we examined if subjects from different countries could similarly infer the surface texture properties from words that sound-symbolically represent hardness in Japanese. We prepared Japanese sound-symbolic words of which novelty was manipulated by a genetic algorithm (GA). Japanese speakers in Japan and English speakers in both Singapore and the United States rated these words based on surface texture properties (hardness, warmness, and roughness), as well as familiarity. The results show that hardness-related words were rated as harder and rougher than softness-related words, regardless of novelty and countries. Multivariate analyses of the ratings classified the hardness-related words along the hardness-softness dimension at over 80% accuracy, regardless of country. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the number of speech sounds /g/ and /k/ predicted the ratings of the surface texture properties in non-Japanese countries, suggesting a systematic relationship between phonetic features of a word and perceptual quality represented by the word across culturally and linguistically diverse samples.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.830306/fullsound symbolismhardnessmaterial perceptionJapanesetouch |
| spellingShingle | Li Shan Wong Jinhwan Kwon Zane Zheng Suzy J. Styles Maki Sakamoto Ryo Kitada Ryo Kitada Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers Frontiers in Psychology sound symbolism hardness material perception Japanese touch |
| title | Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers |
| title_full | Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers |
| title_fullStr | Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers |
| title_short | Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers |
| title_sort | japanese sound symbolic words for representing the hardness of an object are judged similarly by japanese and english speakers |
| topic | sound symbolism hardness material perception Japanese touch |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.830306/full |
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