Abstract
Previous studies have reported that verbal sounds are associated—non-arbitrarily—with specific meanings (e.g., sound symbolism and onomatopoeia), including visual forms of information such as facial expressions; however, it remains unclear how mouth shapes used to utter each vowel create our semantic impressions. We asked 81 Japanese participants to evaluate mouth shapes associated with five Japanese vowels by using 10 five-item semantic differential scales. The results reveal that the physical characteristics of the facial expressions (mouth shapes) induced specific evaluations. For example, the mouth shape made to voice the vowel “a” was the one with the biggest, widest, and highest facial components compared to other mouth shapes, and people perceived words containing that vowel sound as bigger. The mouth shapes used to pronounce the vowel “i” were perceived as more likable than the other four vowels. These findings indicate that the mouth shapes producing vowels imply specific meanings. Our study provides clues about the meaning of verbal sounds and what the facial expressions in communication represent to the perceiver.
Highlights
According to a famous Japanese proverb, “names and natures do often agree.” Consistent with this proverb, verbal sounds often agree with specific representations
We aimed to investigate how participants evaluated mouth shapes used to produce vowels by semantic differential scales measuring sensory-motor and emotional imageries
The results show that participants were able to make several inferences based on mouth shapes, which were in accordance with the physical characteristics expressed by each mouth shape used to utter each vowel; for example, mouth shapes used to voice the vowels “a” and “e” were perceived as big and wide
Summary
According to a famous Japanese proverb, “names and natures do often agree.” Consistent with this proverb, verbal sounds often agree with specific representations. According to a famous Japanese proverb, “names and natures do often agree.”. Consistent with this proverb, verbal sounds often agree with specific representations. Vowel sounds are directly associated with the shape the mouth takes when producing vowels. Associations between verbal sounds and size concepts are common in some languages [6]. The interpretations and observations of these studies only pertain to the oral cavity, tongue position, and acoustic properties of vowels, and not mouth shapes when pronouncing them [4,5,6]. We aimed to investigate how participants evaluated mouth shapes used to produce vowels by semantic differential scales measuring sensory-motor and emotional imageries
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
