Cross-Linguistically Shared and Language-Specific Sound Symbolism for Motion: An Exploratory Data Mining Approach

Noburo Saji, Kimi Akita, Mutsumi Imai, Katerina Kantartzis, Sotaro Kita

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a new quantitative approach to identify what is behind universally sensed sound symbolism and sound symbolism detected only by speakers of a particular language. We presented 70 locomotion videos to Japanese and English speakers and asked them to create a word that would sound-symbolically match each action, then to rate the action on five semantic dimensions. Multivariate analyses revealed that certain sound-meaning links (e.g., voicing and speed) were more consistent than others within and across languages. Language-specific sound symbolism was also found for some sound-meaning links (e.g., the affricate manner of articulation was associated with light motions in Japanese, but with heavy motions in English). This implies that cross-linguistically shared and language-specific parts of sound symbolism are intricately intertwined within each language. This research underscores the importance of a bottom-up approach which can exploratorily investigate the complex sound-symbolic systems as a whole.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCooperative Minds
Subtitle of host publicationSocial Interaction and Group Dynamics - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2013
EditorsMarkus Knauff, Natalie Sebanz, Michael Pauen, Ipke Wachsmuth
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages1253-1258
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780976831891
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Event35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society - Cooperative Minds: Social Interaction and Group Dynamics, CogSci 2013 - Berlin, Germany
Duration: 2013 Jul 312013 Aug 3

Publication series

NameCooperative Minds: Social Interaction and Group Dynamics - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2013

Conference

Conference35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society - Cooperative Minds: Social Interaction and Group Dynamics, CogSci 2013
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityBerlin
Period13/7/3113/8/3

Keywords

  • canonical correlation analysis
  • mimetics
  • sound symbolism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

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