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Articulation contributes to valence sound symbolism
1Department of Psychology.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|October 25, 2021
Summary
Vowel sound symbolism links vowel sounds to positive or negative feelings. This study shows the vowel /y/ has negative valence, supporting articulation over pitch as the basis for this association.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Phonetics
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Vowels are linked to valence, with /i/ associated with positive and /o/ with negative concepts.
- The psychological mechanisms behind valence sound symbolism require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the psychological processes underlying valence sound symbolism.
- To test competing hypotheses regarding the valence of the vowel /y/.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments were conducted involving reading and auditory perception of words.
- Participants judged the valence associated with different vowel sounds.
Main Results:
- The vowel /i/ was consistently associated with more positive valence than both /o/ and /y/.
- /y/ was perceived as more negative than /i/, supporting the articulatory hypothesis.
- /y/ valence was similar to or more negative than /o/, contradicting the pitch-based hypothesis.
Conclusions:
- Valence sound symbolism is primarily based on articulatory phoneme properties, not auditory ones.
- Findings advance the understanding of psychological processes in vowel-valence associations and sound symbolism.
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