Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers

Abstract

Contrary to the assumption of arbitrariness in modern linguistics, sound symbolism, which is the non-arbitrary relationship between sounds and meanings, exists. Sound symbolism, including the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, implies the universality of such relationships; individuals from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds can similarly relate sound-symbolic words to referents, although the extent of these similarities remains to be fully understood. Here, we examined if subjects from different countries could similarly infer the surface texture properties from words that sound-symbolically represent hardness in Japanese. We prepared Japanese sound-symbolic words of which novelty was manipulated by a genetic algorithm (GA). Japanese speakers in Japan and English speakers in both Singapore and the United States rated these words based on surface texture properties (hardness, warmness, and roughness), as well as familiarity. The results show that hardness-related words were rated as harder and rougher than softness-related words, regardless of novelty and countries. Multivariate analyses of the ratings classified the hardness-related words along the hardness-softness dimension at over 80% accuracy, regardless of country. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the number of speech sounds /g/ and /k/ predicted the ratings of the surface texture properties in non-Japanese countries, suggesting a systematic relationship between phonetic features of a word and perceptual quality represented by the word across culturally and linguistically diverse samples.

Selectively manipulating softness perception of materials through sound symbolism

“…The non-arbitrary nature of language is evidenced by associations of certain phonemes with different shapes and sizes across cultures. More recent findings even suggest nuances in phoneme-surface quality relationships in Japanese onomatopoeia ( Sakamoto and Watanabe, 2018 ; Wong et al, 2022 ; Hanada, 2023 ). Here, we show for the first time that Turkish onomatopoeic words have unique associations with material softness qualities.…”

“…These findings might suggest a connection between sound symbolism and the multidimensionality of perceived softness, especially concerning materials that go beyond textiles (e.g., Hanada, 2023 ). Studies that relate sound symbolism to material perception are mostly limited to the Japanese language, which has a diverse vocabulary of onomatopoeic words relating to tactile perception ( Watanabe et al, 2012 ; Sakamoto and Watanabe, 2018 ; Wong et al, 2022 ). Turkish is also rich in the number of onomatopoeic words that are used colloquially.…”

Selectively Manipulating Softness Perception of Materials Through Sound Symbolism

“…The non-arbitrary nature of language is evidenced by associations of certain phonemes with different shapes and sizes across cultures. More recent findings even suggest nuances in phoneme-surface quality relationships in Japanese onomatopoeia (Sakamoto & Watanabe, 2018; Wong et al, 2022; Hanada, 2023). Here, we show for the first time that Turkish onomatopoeic words have unique associations with material softness qualities.…”

“…In addition to these, Etzi et al (2016) found that round-shaped sounds (as in "Bouba") were more related to smoother textures, while sharp-transient sounds (as in "Kiki") were more related to rougher textures. There is also evidence for strong associations between sounds and material perception in relatively recent research (Jousmäki and Hari, 1998;Watanabe et al, 2012;Sakamoto & Watanabe, 2018;Wong et al, 2022). For instance, Sakamoto and Watanabe (2018) found specific relationships between sounds and tactile ratings in the Japanese language, such as /p/, /b/, and /n/ consonants being more related to soft materials while /ts/ and /k/ being more related to hard materials.…”

“…These findings might suggest a connection between sound symbolism and the multidimensionality of perceived softness, especially concerning materials that go beyond textiles (e.g., Hanada, 2023). Studies that relate sound symbolism to material perception are mostly limited to the Japanese language, which has a diverse vocabulary of onomatopoeic words relating to tactile perception (Sakamoto & Watanabe, 2018; Watanabe et al, 2012; Wong et al, 2022). Turkish is also rich in the number of onomatopoeic words that are used colloquially.…”