CogSem

 


Sound symbolism refers to associations people make between certain language sounds and perceptual and/or semantic features. For example, most agree that sonorant consonants (e.g., /l/, /m/, n/) evoke associations of roundness, while voiceless stop consonants (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/) evoke associations of sharpness. In recent studies we have shown that these associations extend to personality, with either type of consonant associated with certain personality factors from the HEXACO six factor model of personality. I also discuss studies on the related phenomenon of iconicity: instances in which the sound of a word resembles its meaning, either directly (e.g., meow) or via association (e.g., balloon). We have found that these words tend to have a greater amount of associated sensory experience, and smaller semantic neighbourhoods. Iconic words are also processed faster, suggesting that iconicity plays a role in the representation of word meaning. Together these studies demonstrate new ways in which sound and meaning are related in language

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Upcoming Talk:

Dr David Sidhu

Department of Psychology

University of Calgary

Oct 18th

2019

3:00-4:00 pm

BS-P 319N


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Studies of Sound Symbolism and Iconicity