Abstract
Throughout the history of languages, poets and writers have used linguistic tools to enhance euphony in their creations. One of the widely used tools to convey melody in any written (or spoken) creative art form is the use of long vowels. This paper examines the linkages between long (vs. short) vowel sounds and taste expectations of sweetness. Across four studies, we demonstrate that people expect products with brand names containing long vowels to taste sweeter than those including short vowel sounds. In studies 1 and 2, we demonstrate this association with the use of self-reported measures, and in studies 3 and 4, we employ indirect measures (implicit taste–shape correspondence and Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) paradigm) to show the effect holds at a subconscious level of processing. Previous research in this field has typically linked vowel position (high vs. low or front vs. back) with product or brand attribute expectations. This paper contributes to the growing body of literature in this field by demonstrating the importance of vowel length in sound symbolism, and more precisely, how it pertains to the taste continuum.
Highlights
The Lotos blooms below the barren peakThe Lotos blows by every winding creekAll day the wind breathes low with mellower toneThro’ every hollow cave and alley loneRound and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blownThese famous lines from Lord Tennyson’s poem The Lotos-eaters are known for their lullaby-like effect on a listening audience
We are not claiming that short vowels are not expected as sweet but are showing that long vowels are perceived to be sweeter than their shorter counterparts and can be used to enhance the expected sweetness of a food product
In Study 4, we extend our findings to show that the association between long vowel sounds and the expectation of sweetness operates at an implicit level by using a well-established paradigm, the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT [62])
Summary
Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown. These famous lines from Lord Tennyson’s poem The Lotos-eaters are known for their lullaby-like effect on a listening audience. Successful poets often use linguistic tools to enhance euphony and melody in their expression. These include the use of vowel rich language, long vowel sounds, alliteration, rhyme, and soft speech sounds (e.g., /l/, /r/, /w/). We show that when euphonic linguistic tools are used to create brand names, embedding the long vowels sounds
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