Cover not available

In:Iconicity: East meets West
Edited by Masako K. Hiraga, William J. Herlofsky, Kazuko Shinohara and Kimi Akita
[Iconicity in Language and Literature 14] 2015
► pp. 71–91

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Phonemes as images

An experimental inquiry into shape-sound symbolism applied to the distinctive features of French

Published online: 12 February 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.14.04nob
This paper attempts to improve the understanding of shape-sound symbolism by isolating the phonological features of the pseudo-words used in the experiments and the graphic features of the figures matched with them. In a first section, it analyses the classic maluma-takete effect from both an articulatory and acoustical point of view, showing that it is determined by several phonological features operating simultaneously. In a second section, two new experiments are presented to isolate, first, vowels and consonants and, second, the consonant features of [voicing], [manner of articulation], [nasality] and [place of articulation] in relation to the graphic features of {acuity}, {continuity}, {curvature}, {regularity}, and {density}. The main result is that each phonological feature shows a different pattern of correlations with the graphic features, determined by its subtle phono-articulatory and phono-acoustic structure.
References (37)
Anderson, E.R. 2001. Old English poetic texts and their Latin sources: Iconicity in Cædmon’s Hymn and The Phoenix . In The Motivated Sign [Iconicity in Language and Literature 2], O. Fischer & M. Nänny (eds), 109–134. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chastaing, M. 1958. Le symbolisme des voyelles: Significations des ‘i’. Journal de psychologie normale et pathologique 51(3): 403–423 & 461–481.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1962. La brillance des voyelles. Archivium Linguisticum 14(1): 1–13.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1964. L’opposition des consonnes ‘sourdes’ aux consonnes ‘sonores’ a-t-elle une valeur symbolique? Vie et langage 147: 367–370.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1966. Si les R étaient des L… Vie et langage 159: 311–317.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davis, R. 1961. The fitness of names to drawings: A cross-cultural study in Tanganyika. British Journal of Psychology 52: 259–268. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
D’Onofrio, A. 2013. Phonetic detail and dimensionality in sound-shape correspondences: Refining the bouba-kiki paradigm. Language and Speech 57(3): 367–393. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fischer-Jørgensen, E. 1967. Perceptual dimensions of vowels. In To Honor Roman Jakobson: Essays on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, Vol. I, 667–671. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fitch, W.T. 2000. The evolution of speech: A comparative review. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4(7): 258–267. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, C. 1935. An experimental study of naming. American Journal of Psychology 47: 545–578. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grammont, M. 1901. Onomatopées et mots expressifs. Revue de Langues Romanes 44(4): 97–158.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1933. Traité de phonétique. Paris: Delagrave.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hinton, L., Nichols, J. & Ohala, J.J. 1994. Introduction: Sound-symbolic processes. In Sound Symbolism, L. Hinton, J. Nichols & J.J. Ohala (eds), 1–12. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holland, M. & Wertheimer, M. 1964. Some physiognomic aspects of naming, or maluma and takete revisited. Perceptual and Motor Skills 19: 111–117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. & Waugh, L. 1979. The Sound Shape of Language. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, R. 1967. Magnitude symbolism of English words. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour 6: 508–511. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klank, L., Huang, Y. & Johnson, R. 1971. Determinants of success in matching word pairs in tests of phonetic symbolism. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour 10: 140–148. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Köhler, W. 1929[1947]. Gestalt Psychology. New York NY: Liveright.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
LaPolla, R. 1994. An experimental investigation into phonetic symbolism as it relates to Mandarin Chinese. In Sound Symbolism, L. Hinton, J. Nichols & J.J. Ohala (eds), 130–147. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marks, L. 1982. Bright sneezes and dark coughs, loud sunlight and sift moonlight. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 8: 177–193. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1989. On cross-modal similarity: The perceptual structure of pitch, loudness and brightness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 15: 586–602. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newman, S. 1933. Further experiments on phonetic symbolism. American Journal of Psychology 45: 53–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nielsen, A. & Rendall, D. 2011. The sound of round: Evaluating the sound-symbolic role of consonants in the classic takete-maluma phenomenon. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 65: 115–124. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nobile, L. 2008. The grammatical monophonemes of standard Italian: A structural isomorphism between phonological and semantic oppositions? Cognitive Philology I(2). <[URL]>Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Words in the mirror: Analysing the sensorimotor interface between phonetics and semantics in Italian. In Semblance and Signification [Iconicity in Language and Literature 10], P. Michelucci, O. Fischer & C. Ljungberg (eds), 101–131. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. L’iconicité phonologique dans les neurosciences cognitives et dans la tradition linguistique française. Le Français Moderne 82(1): 131–169.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ohala, J.J. 1984. An ethological perspective on common cross-language utilization of F0 of voice. Phonetica 41: 1–16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peterfalvi, J.-M. 1964. Etude du symbolisme phonétique par l’appariement de mots sans signification à des figures. L’année psychologique 64(2): 411–432. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1965. Les recherches expérimentales sur le symbolisme phonétique. L’année Psychologique 65(2): 439–474. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1970. Recherches expérimentales sur le symbolisme phonétique. Paris: CNRS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramachandran, V. & Hubbard, E. 2001. Synaesthesia – A window into perception, thought and language. Journal of Consciousness Studies 8(12): 3–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzolatti, G. & Craighero, L. 2007. Language and mirror neurons. The Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics, G. Gaskell (ed.), 781–785. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saji, N., Akita, K., Imai, M., Kantartzis, K. & Kita, S. 2013. Cross-linguistically shared and language-specific sound symbolism for motion: An exploratory data mining approach. In Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of Cognitive Science Society, Berlin, 31 July–03 August 2013 , 1253–1258. <[URL]>
Spence, C. 2011. Crossmodal correspondences: A tutorial review. Attention Perception Psychophysics 73: 971–995. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, I. & Taylor, M. 1962. Phonetic symbolism in four unrelated languages. Canadian Journal of Psychology 16: 344–356. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thompson, P.D. & Estes, Z. 2011. Sound symbolic naming of novel objects is a graded function. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 64(12): 2392–2404. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Westbury, C. 2005. Implicit sound symbolism in lexical access: Evidence from an interference task. Brain and Language 93: 10–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (12)

Cited by 12 other publications

Chen, Yi‐Chuan, Mingxue Zhao, Yen‐Han Chang & Pi‐Chun Huang
2025. Shared and Distinct Phonemic Features in Sound–Shape and Sound–Size Correspondences: A Study of Mandarin Chinese. Cognitive Science 49:11 DOI logo
Kumagai, Gakuji, Ryoko Uno & Kazuko Shinohara
2022. The sound-symbolic effects of consonants on food texture. In The Language of Food in Japanese [Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 25], ► pp. 79 ff. DOI logo
Kawahara, Shigeto & Gakuji Kumagai
2021. What voiced obstruents symbolically represent in Japanese: evidence from the Pokémon universe. Journal of Japanese Linguistics 37:1 ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Kawahara, Shigeto
2020. Sound symbolism and theoretical phonology. Language and Linguistics Compass 14:8 DOI logo
Shinohara, Kazuko, Shigeto Kawahara & Hideyuki Tanaka
2020. Visual and Proprioceptive Perceptions Evoke Motion-Sound Symbolism: Different Acceleration Profiles Are Associated With Different Types of Consonants. Frontiers in Psychology 11 DOI logo
Beaumatin, Eric & Élodie Blestel
2018. Retour morphosémantique sur les futurs irréguliers de l’espagnol. Linx :77 ► pp. 159 ff. DOI logo
Georgescu, Simona
2018. Las ‘creaciones expresivas’ del "Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico" en contexto románico e indoeuropeo. Un nuevo (y a la vez antiguo) enfoque. Revista de Filología Románica 35 ► pp. 119 ff. DOI logo
Mannone, Maria
2018. Introduction to gestural similarity in music. An application of category theory to the orchestra. Journal of Mathematics and Music 12:2 ► pp. 63 ff. DOI logo
Occhino, Corrine
2017. An Introduction to Embodied Cognitive Phonology: Claw-5 Hand-shape Distribution in ASL and Libras. Complutense Journal of English Studies 25 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo
Parker, Steve
2017. Sounding out Sonority. Language and Linguistics Compass 11:9 DOI logo
Akita, Kimi
2015. Sound symbolism. In Handbook of Pragmatics, DOI logo
Akita, Kimi
2021. Phonation Types Matter in Sound Symbolism. Cognitive Science 45:5 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue