Phonetic Symbolism Research Articles

SEMANTIZATION OF SOUND UNITS IN MULTILEVEL LANGUAGES

It is crucial to consider two foundational principles of phonosemantics: the principle of non-arbitrariness (motivation), principle of the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign. The former principle suggests a pervasive interrelation among real-world phenomena and objects. Numerous instances in the history of science demonstrate the discovery of connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena. In contrast, the principle of the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign asserts the independence between the signifier and the signified, clashing with the overarching principle of hierarchization. According to this principle, each element in a ’higher’ system can act as an autonomous ’lower’ system. As such, a word becomes an independent ’lower’ system, possessing a substrate—the signified and the signifier—and a structural relationship between them. Stripping a word of these connections removes its structural integrity; without structure, it ceases to be a system. Therefore, Ferdinand de Saussure, the pioneer of systemic linguistics, declared the principle of the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign, challenging the very concept of systemicity. While embracing the system of arbitrariness of the linguistic sign, we acknowledge that not all words are motivated. Many words exist whose motivation remains undetermined with current etymological research. Thus, we recognize two perspectives on this issue: natural and conventional. Fundamentally, a linguistic sign is arbitrary, yet in contemporary synchronic analysis, it manifests a dual nature: both arbitrary and motivated. It is important to discern which principle dominates in each instance of nomination. In any specific nominative act, a certain characteristic of the denoted object is selected as the basis of the nomination, and in this critical moment, the nomination is motivated rather than arbitrary. Often, the selection of this particular characteristic might be random, highlighting the nomination’s arbitrariness, or its lack of motivation. Phonetic symbolism embodies a regular, non-arbitrary connection, phonetically driven, between the phonemes of a word and the non-acoustic attribute of the denotate that forms the basis of its nomination. Phonetic semantics is a natural spontaneous connection between the phonemes of a word and the non-sound characteristic of the denonation, which serves as the basis for nomination. Scientific research aims to consider the studied phenomenon in two aspects of its manifestation: oh the one hand, phonetic semantics has a statistical character, on the other hand it is psychophysiological process based on synaesthesia, syntenemia and kinematics. Research materials are offered on the examples of Germanic and Slavic languages, which are a demonstration and confirmation of the truth of the investigation. The chronology of scientific facts about the functioning of phonetic semantics allows us to come to the conclusion that this linguistic phenomenon was developed at the early stages of the formation of languages and is in constant dynamics and processes that are regular and dynamic significantly affect the relationship between the occurrence and meaning of lexical units over time, which is evidenced by the linguistic transformations of the lexical endowment of different system languages.

Phonetic Symbolism in First Names

Interest in the phenomenon of sound symbolism, in which certain phonemes might be inherently associated with certain things, dates back to 400 B.C. While it has been assumed in most modern theories of linguistics that the relation between sound and meanings is arbitrary, an increasing number of studies have shown that there can be systematic sound-meaning associations. Among such systematic patterns is phonetic symbolism due to the iconicity between sound and meaning. Building upon earlier findings concerning the correlation between male and female names and certain sound classes found in English language, this study examines phonetic patterns, voiceless obstruents and sonorant consonants of the top 100 first names in four languages. The purpose of this study is to show that these tendencies may generally hold among existing first names in other languages as well. The results show that voiceless obstruents tend to be used more frequently in male names than in female names, and sonorant consonants tend to be used more frequently in female names than in male names. Indeed, this study offers further indications concerning this phenomenon, in which phonetic symbolism is not restricted to nonwords and can be found in real first names across languages. It sheds light on the phonetic factors, namely acoustics and other phonological characteristics that might trigger this systematic association.

Studying Emotive Effects in Poetry by Quantifying Open-Ended Impressions

Poems, as aesthetic objects, generate a subjective experience, which can be different for different readers. In this paper, we propose a method to quantify these subjective experiences. We gave participants three parallel excerpts and asked them to describe, in free text, the perceived emotive qualities of these excerpts. The descriptions were analysed quantitatively according to the dimensions of the Valence-Arousal-Dominance model of emotion. With the help of additional rating tasks and a structural theory of phonetic symbolism, we attribute the perceived emotive qualities to an interaction between the meaning of words, patterns of alliteration, and metric deviation.

Phonetic Symbolism of the Syllabic Notation of Guido Aretinsky in the Context of Thinking and Musical Education Oral and Written Tradition

Phonetic Symbolism of the Syllabic Notation of Guido Aretinsky in the Context of Thinking and Musical Education Oral and Written Tradition

Methodological issues in the study of phonetic symbolism

Abstract There is a growing research literature on phonetic symbolism in poetry, sometimes with incongruent results. Through a theoretical structural analysis we show that, (a) individual speech sounds have (sometimes conflicting) potentials to suggest elementary percepts, such as abruptness, hardness, smoothness; and (b) from these elementary percepts some general psychological atmosphere may be abstracted that may be individuated in specific emotions as ‘love,’ ‘joy,’ or ‘anger,’ by semantic feature-addition. This proposal can reconcile incongruous research results. Sound-symbolic lexical entries are governed by similar principles, but fossilized. Large-scale statistical investigation may reveal significant sound-symbolic effects only when the same phonemes repeat throughout the poem. They may, however, miss conspicuous local sound effects, revealed only by local analysis. Some sceptical conclusions in the research literature may be due to this phenomenon. The proposed method may account not only for statistical correlations, but also for the perception of a pervasive emotional atmosphere in a poem.

The Influence of the Phonetic Elements of a Name on Risk Assessment

Abstract The authors propose that the phonetic elements of a name affect risk perception. Specifically, they find that people prefer a name that evokes volatility when faced with a risky prospect, but prefer a name that evokes calmness when faced with a safe prospect. The authors posit that a volatile (vs. calm) prospect name results in more perceived fluctuations, and thus greater movement from, the given risk level. Therefore, a volatile prospect name results in a wider range of probabilities compared to a calm prospect name. The authors test the proposed effect and the role of the phonetic elements of a name using real-world data and controlled studies within diverse consumer domains (e.g., product evaluations, wagering, and branding). Findings contribute to the larger theoretical area of phonetic symbolism and provide guidance for practitioners trying to maximize preference for a given product, service, or policy.

Cross-cultural and inter-periodical commonality of phonetic symbolism in initials of men and women: A preliminary study

Cross-cultural and inter-periodical commonality of phonetic symbolism in initials of men and women: A preliminary study

The Effects of the Phonetic Symbolism of Brand Naming on Consumer Attitudes

The Effects of the Phonetic Symbolism of Brand Naming on Consumer Attitudes

Using sublexical priming to enhance brand name phonetic symbolism effects in young children

We examine whether phonetic symbolism effects are conditional on the development of phonological awareness (an ability to recognize sounds in words). Further, we introduce sublexical priming as a means to enhance phonetic symbolism effects. Across four experiments, we demonstrate that product evaluations, consistent with phonetic symbolism theory, are more (less) likely when a child is older (younger). Specifically, older children who can recognize sounds in words perceive back vowel brand names (e.g., Vopoz) as slower, heavier, larger, smoother, creamier, chewier, and thicker than brand names with front vowel sounds (e.g., Vipiz). In addition, we show that phonetic symbolism effects manifest when younger children (low in phonological awareness) are primed to focus on parts of a word/s, which we term sublexical priming. We present embedded tasks and chunking of brand names as strategic communication techniques that can be implemented as sublexical primes to enhance phonetic symbolism effects in younger children.

A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages by J.R.R. Tolkien

Reviewed by: A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages by J.R.R. Tolkien Arden R. Smith A Secret Vice: Tolkien on In ven ted Languages, by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins. London: Harper-Collins, 2016. lxv, 157 pp. £16.99 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-00-813139-5. As revealed by Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins, J.R.R. Tolkien presented the essay entitled "A Secret Vice" to the Johnson Society at Pembroke College, Oxford, at 9 p.m. on 29 November 1931 (xxxi). The time, date, and audience of the talk are among the various new details, previously unknown to Tolkien scholarship, that Fimi and Higgins have discovered in the course of researching this new, expanded edition of Tolkien's important essay on the "secret vice" of language invention. Entitled "A Hobby for the Home" in the original manuscript, the essay first appeared in print in 1983, edited by Christopher Tolkien and published in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. Those who have read Christopher Tolkien's edition (and I would hope that all readers of Tolkien Studies fall into this category) may wonder how an essay that filled 26 printed pages, editorial notes included, could possibly warrant publication as a full-length book. Needless to say, this new volume contains more than "A Secret Vice" alone, and there is material here that will be new to even the most seasoned Tolkien scholar, not only in the extensive editorial commentary and the newly published manuscripts related to the essay, but in the text of the essay itself. Tolkien's texts in the volume are divided into three main sections: Part I: "A Secret Vice," Part II: "Essay on Phonetic Symbolism," and Part III: "The Manuscripts." Each of these sections ends with numerous editorial notes. A brief Foreword and a detailed Introduction precede the three main Parts, and a Coda on "The Reception and Legacy of Tolkien's Invented Languages" and Appendices, consisting of Chronology, Abbreviations, and Bibliography, complete the volume. I will treat each of these sections separately, in the order in which they appear in the book, though at times the discussion may naturally encompass related material appearing in other sections. Foreword (vii–x) In the Foreword, the editors briefly describe the contents of the volume, stating that it "makes available for the first time all the drafts of, and attendant notes for, 'A Secret Vice' currently deposited in the Bodleian Library as part of their holdings labelled MS Tolkien 24" [End Page 169] (vii). Here they outline the importance of "A Secret Vice" and summarize what is new in this expanded edition. They round out the Foreword with a statement of their editorial conventions and a good number of acknowledgements. The editors write that they "have tried to be faithful to the text while making it as readable as possible, with minimal editorial intrusion" (viii). In doing this, they have retained Tolkien's underlines as underlines, rather than italicizing the underlined words, and have included Tolkien's deletions with strikethroughs. We have seen this editorial style in some of the more recent publications of Tolkien's works (e.g., Beowulf and the Critics, Tolkien on Fairy-stories, The Story of Kullervo), and it naturally has both positive and negative aspects. Although it does give the reader a clearer idea of the appearance of the original manuscript, it can look rather unattractive on the printed page, especially if the manuscript in question contains numerous deletions. Fortunately, the manuscripts of "A Secret Vice" and the "Essay on Phonetic Symbolism" are rather clean, with few deleted words and passages, and even the notes and drafts presented in Part III (with a couple of exceptions) are largely free of deletions. Introduction (xi–lxv) The far more extensive Introduction summarizes "A Secret Vice," but it is primarily concerned with placing the essay in context, or, to be more precise, in several contexts. The Introduction consists of five separate sections, but the last two especially have a fairly broad scope. "Myth-making and Language Invention" (xi–xiv) discusses Tolkien's view of these as "coeval and co-dependent creative acts" (xi), reinforcing Tolkien...

Phonetic Symbolism and Memory for Advertisements

SummaryThis study investigated whether phonetic symbolism within brand names influences the memory of advertisements. Participants both saw and heard brand names with front vs. back vowels paired with small vs. large products in a congruent vs. incongruent fashion. When later given several unexpected memory tasks, it was found that congruent (vs. incongruent) pairings led to enhanced brand name and product recall as well as the efficiency of both brand name and paired recognition. These findings are consistent with a theory of cross‐modal processing involving perceptual unification. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The psycholinguistic world of “zdziwienie” - “astonishment” and “zaskoczenie” - “surprise”

Abstract The aim of the study was to answer the question whether the words “zaskoczenie” [phon. zaskɔˈʧ̑ɛ̃ɲɛ]- “surprise” and “zdziwienie” [phon. ʑʥ̑iˈvjɛ̇̃ɲɛ]- “astonishment”, which are treated in the Polish language as synonyms, possess a fixed pattern of application, and whether the colloquial context of using these words differs in terms of its emotional valence. The theoretical background for this investigation was the triadic approach to language cognition that includes perception, conceptualization and symbolization, and corresponding to this approach concept of mental representation of emotions. The obtained results have shown that people tend to use the word “zaskoczenie” to describe emotions that occur in positive situations, whereas the word “zdziwienie” is more frequently applied in negative situations. The observed emotive connotation of the investigated words has been explained by the rules of phonetic symbolism and implicative meaning of the words preserved in the popular/colloquial understanding.

Names versus faces: examining spokesperson-based congruency effects in advertising

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the influence of spokesperson appearance (visual congruence) and the sounds contained in a spokesperson’s name (verbal congruence) on consumer perceptions of spokesperson–product fit. Design/methodology/approach – Two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 ensured that verbal congruence impacted perceptions of spokesperson–product fit. Experiment 2 compared the effect of verbal congruence versus traditional match-up (visual congruence) on perceptions of spokesperson–product fit. The mediating role of spokesperson–product fit on attitude towards the advertisement and the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) was also tested. Findings – Findings indicate that verbal congruence influences consumer perceptions of fit, regardless of visual congruence. Perceptions of spokesperson–product fit also act as mediators between visual and verbal congruence and attitude towards the advertisement. However, verbal congruence did not influence consumer perceptions of spokesperson–product fit when the NFC was low. Research limitations/implications – This research has implications for advertisers and brand managers considering the creation of a name for a non-celebrity spokesperson or the development of a brand/spokes-character. However, this research is limited, as it examines only male names. Originality/value – This research shows that perceptions of spokesperson and product fit are not only influenced by spokesperson appearance (visual congruence) but also by spokesperson name (verbal congruence). This research also identifies limitations of the applicability of phonetic symbolism theory by identifying a condition under which phonetic symbolism (verbal congruence) exerts no effects on perceptions of spokesperson–product fit.

Revisiting the automaticity of phonetic symbolism effects

This research extends our understanding of the automaticity of phonetic symbolism judgments for adults and children. Replicating Study 2 from Yorkston and Menon (2004), we demonstrate that phonetic-based inferences are automatic and relatively effortless for adults, but not for children. Phonetic symbolism effects have a developmental grounding, with initial phonetic-based judgments not present in younger children (6 to 9years). Older children (10 to 13years), however, demonstrate phonetic-based effects only when cognitive constraints are not imposed.

Tradurre per comprendere: colpa, pentimento e rinascita in Semejnoe sčast’e di Lev Tolstoj e nella traduzione italiana di Clemente Rebora

This essay deals with the issue of guilt, repentance and rebirth in the short novel Semejnoe sčast’e (Family Happiness) by Lev N. Tolstoy (1859). The author first considers the concepts of ‘offense’, ‘repentance’ and ‘forgiveness’ through an analysis of the Russian terminology used by Tolstoy for these semantic fields (obida, dosada, vina, raskajanie, pokajanie); next, in an analysis of Clemente Rebora’s Italian translation (1920), special attention is paid to the differences from the original text that signal the translator’s interpretive reading, which, at the same time, becomes a tool for understanding it. It is shown how, in the transition from Russian into Italian, semantic shifts and phonetic symbolism add a mystical tension to the original Tolstoyan text which is typical of the poetry of Clemente Rebora.

Examining children's preference for phonetically manipulated brand names across two English accent groups

Replicating Shrum et al. (2012), we demonstrate that individuals display a preference for brand names that contain vowel sounds that connote product attributes. We also illustrate the impact of accent and phonological development on the nature and presence of phonetic symbolism respectively. With no known studies examining the role of accent, it is suggested that this research makes a unique contribution, offering an alternative perspective on current global phonetic symbolism research.

Is Jamie Oliver “Easy Peasy” in Slovene?

The research aims to identify the idiolectal features in selected cookbooks by Jamie Oliver (The Naked Chef, Happy Days with the Naked Chef and Jamie’s Ministry of Food), and how they were rendered into Slovene by Oliver’s translators. As a theoretical basis, it relies on Koller’s three-stage model for analyzing the original and the translation. The paper also confronts the problems that arise from cultural differences between Slovene and British culture. Lexical items are layered into independent categories in the form of concentric circles to denote quantity, significance and interconnection. Within these layers, I focus on specific analysis of expressions under the influence of word-formation, pop culture, gender specific language, onomatopoeia, phonetic symbolism, deliberate inaccuracy, comparison, informal and colloquial language, and creative instances such as “the icky factor”, “childish intimacy” and “the Peter-Pan-syndrome”. The translator’s subjective point of view was also taken into consideration.

Numerosity and Consumer Behavior How to Make a 29% Increase Look Bigger: The Unit Effect in Option Comparisons Illusionary Progress in Loyalty Programs: Magnitudes, Reward Distances, and Step-Size Ambiguity Years, Months, and Days versus 1, 12, and 365: The Influence of Units versus Numbers How and Why 1 Year Differs from 365 Days: A Conversational Logic Analysis of Inferences from

Psychologists have long been intrigued by how humans and nonhuman primates process magnitudes such as “how far, how fast, how much, how long, and how many.” This fascination perhaps stems from the fact that magnitude estimations of space, time, and number form the bedrock of most of the decisions that we make in daily life. Decisions about how many cookies to eat, how many payments to make, how many days to wait for a product, all have one thing in common: they require a fundamental ability to be able to discern discriminable elements of the type of stimulus in question. Although distinguishing one from many is an ability that is shared by humans and nonhuman primates, what makes research in this area particularly intriguing is the layer of complexity that arises when we take our ability to mathematically represent different quantities in different units (e.g., 1 month, 4 weeks, 30 days) and map it on to this more fundamental ability. The mapping of this numerical system onto a more generalized magnitude representational system allows us to raise the basic question: do magnitude estimates change when they are represented in a different unit or metric? The current collection of articles on numerosity and consumer behavior (appearing over the last two years) complements and adds to a growing body of work that has already appeared in JCR. The articles start with the assumption that a multitude of physical stimuli, regardless of the domain, can be represented in memory using a magnitude representational system. However, the overlay of a verbal, representational system that draws on our knowledge of mathematical symbols and provides a common basis for interpreting these quantities can sometimes produce effects that skew our ability to estimate things correctly. Thus, although there is no rational reason to suppose that a week might differ from 7 days, it does. The reasons for the occurrence of this numerosity effect are still unclear. Nevertheless, the effect leads to errors in estimation that affect not only how we make progress in goals that are set but also affect, at a more fundamental level, how we perceive things. The first two papers in this collection document this. The first article, by Pandelaere, Briers, and Lembregts, shows that expressing an attribute in a different unit leads to greater perceived difference if the unit is on an expanded or finer-grained scale. Thus, for example, consumers see a greater difference between products that express warranty information in months (84 months) as opposed to years (7 years). The effects are attributed to a tendency for people to focus on the numbers rather than the units in which the quantity is represented. One consequence of this tendency is that as the perceived difference increases, consumers are more likely to switch to the better quality option. The authors show the implications of this for decision making by tracking how consumers switch in a variety of domains that range from product decisions to picking a healthy snack. Interestingly, drawing attention to the possibility that this estimate can be represented in different units eliminates the effect. The second article in this series, by Bagchi and Li, examines the implications of scales that use a greater number of units in the context of loyalty programs (e.g., “earn 10 points per dollar spent and claim your reward when you reach 1,000 points” vs. “earn 1 point per dollar spent to claim a reward when you reach 100 points”). In their studies, not only does the scale representing the distance to be traveled to get the reward vary but also the step sizes to get there. At issue, then, is what consumers use in order to infer their goal progress relative to that of another person. Their findings suggest that when the step size information is ambiguous, goal progress is inferred largely from the magnitude of the scale. Consumers perceive themselves to be further away relative to someone else when the scale consists of a

Phonetic Symbolism in Natural Languages

Phonetic composition of words denoting 24 polar concepts (big, little, strong, weak, hot, cold, light, dark, fast, slow, etc.) in 53 languages has been statistically investigated. Statistical universal connections between certain phonetic and semantic units, the correlation between scales, as well as the correlation between unrelated languages have been found. Factors causing phonetic symbolism, phonetic symbolism oppositions, the relation between objective and subjective phonetic symbolism, the coexistence of phonetic symbolism and arbitrariness of the linguistic sign are discussed.

Sound symbolism effects across languages: Implications for global brand names

Selecting good brand names for products is a critical step for marketers, and many aspects of a brand name influence brand perceptions. Three experiments investigated the effects of phonetic symbolism (the impact of sound on meaning) on brand name preference, the extent to which these effects generalize to other languages, and the processes that underlie these effects. When choosing brand names, French-, Spanish-, and Chinese-speaking participants who were bilingual in English preferred words in which there was a match between the phonetic symbolism of the words and the product attributes. These results were unaffected by whether participants completed the study in their first or second language, by second-language proficiency, or by whether the Chinese language representations were in logographic or alphabetic form. These findings replicate those of Lowrey and Shrum (2007) and indicate that phonetic symbolism effects for brand name perceptions can generalize across languages, and thus suggest that marketers may be able to embed universal meaning in their brand names.