We don’t assume that we can understand the meaning of words based on their sound alone. But a long history of research in psycholinguistics hints that we’re better at it than we might think.
When people are presented with a pointy shape and a blob shape and given a choice between two made-up words to name each one, most associate the pointy shape with the made-up word “Kiki” and the blob shape with the made-up word “Bouba.” Use this media guide to engage your classroom in a discussion of the three theories presented by cognitive psychologist Kelly McCormick.
Humans robustly associate spiky shapes to words like “Kiki” and round shapes to words like “Bouba.” According to a popular explanation, this is because the mouth assumes an angular shape while speaking “Kiki” and a rounded shape for “Bouba.” Alternatively, this effect could reflect more general associations between shape and sound that are not specific to mouth shape or articulatory properties of speech. These possibilities can be distinguished using unpronounceable sounds: The mouth-shape hypothesis predicts no Bouba-Kiki effect for these sounds, whereas the generic shape-sound hypothesis predicts a systematic effect. Here, we show that the Bouba–Kiki effect is present for a variety of unpronounceable sounds ranging from reversed words and real object sounds (n = 45 participants) and even pure tones (n = 28). The effect was strongly correlated with the mean frequency of a sound across both spoken and reversed words. The effect was not systematically predicted by subjective ratings of pronounceability or with mouth aspect ratios measured from video. Thus, the Bouba–Kiki effect is explained using simple shape-sound associations rather than using speech properties.
“Bouba” is round and “kiki” is pointy, no matter which writing system you use
Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language - Quick and Dirty Tips.
Retrouvez le guide complet des épisodes de la série d'animation "Bouba / Seaton dôbutsuki : Kuma no ko Jacky" (1977) avec résumés, images et dates de diffusion.
Mind gamers, here’s a strange little test for you. Which of these shapes is a bouba, and which is a kiki? And what does this have to do with the evolution of language?
It has been suggested that the Bouba/Kiki effect, in which meaningless speech sounds are systematically mapped onto rounded or angular shapes, reflects a universal crossmodal correspondence between audition and vision. Here, radial frequency (RF) patterns were adapted in order to compare the Bouba/Kiki effect in Eastern and Western participants demonstrating different perceptual styles. Three attributes of the RF patterns were manipulated: The frequency, amplitude, and spikiness of the sinusoidal modulations along the circumference of a circle. By testing participants in the US and Taiwan, both cultural commonalities and differences in sound-shape correspondence were revealed. RF patterns were more likely to be matched with “Kiki” than with “Bouba” when the frequency, amplitude, and spikiness increased. The responses from both groups of participants had a similar weighting on frequency; nevertheless, the North Americans had a higher weighting on amplitude, but a lower weighting on spikiness, than their Taiwanese counterparts. These novel results regarding cultural differences suggest that the Bouba/Kiki effect is partly tuned by differing perceptual experience. In addition, using the RF patterns in the Bouba/Kiki effect provides a “mid-level” linkage between visual and auditory processing, and a future understanding of sound-shape correspondences based on the mechanism of visual pattern processing.
The Bouba/Kiki Effect & character design techniques can give you insights into how basic visual shapes subconsciously affect user…
Humans robustly associate spiky shapes to words like “Kiki” and round shapes to words like “Bouba.” According to a popular explanation, this is because the mouth assumes an angular shape while speaking “Kiki” and a rounded shape for “Bouba.” Alternatively, this effect could reflect more general associations between shape and sound that are not specific to mouth shape or articulatory properties of speech. These possibilities can be distinguished using unpronounceable sounds: The mouth-shape hypothesis predicts no Bouba-Kiki effect for these sounds, whereas the generic shape-sound hypothesis predicts a systematic effect. Here, we show that the Bouba–Kiki effect is present for a variety of unpronounceable sounds ranging from reversed words and real object sounds (n = 45 participants) and even pure tones (n = 28). The effect was strongly correlated with the mean frequency of a sound across both spoken and reversed words. The effect was not systematically predicted by subjective ratings of pronounceability or with mouth aspect ratios measured from video. Thus, the Bouba–Kiki effect is explained using simple shape-sound associations rather than using speech properties.
Investigate whether people match certain symbolic characteristics, like sharpness and roundness, with certain sounds.
A simple online experiment has provided some of the most robust evidence to date that the very sound of words can shape human language.
The Bouba/Kiki Effect & character design techniques can give you insights into how basic visual shapes subconsciously affect user…
Humans from many cultures tend to associate the nonsense words “bouba” and “kiki” with different shapes – and now it seems that 3-day-old chicks have the same inclinations
A bouba aviária pode afetar diversas espécies como perus, galinhas e frangos. Uma das formas mais eficazes de prevenir essa doença é fazendo uma correta higienização do ambiente.
"95% to 98% of people choose kiki for the angular shape and bouba for the rounded one... Even 2.5 year-old children (too young to read) show this effect." "Ramachandran and Hubbard suggest the kiki/bouba effect has implications for the evolution of language, because the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary. The rounded shape may intuitively be named bouba because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound, while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to articulate kiki. The s...
YouTube channel, Now You See It, studies the influence of shapes on characters’ personalities in a new video and how geometry affects the visual storytelling of the films we love.
In human history, certain societies have made it their business to try to take over the world. In plant history, there are species with the same instinct.
It has been suggested that the Bouba/Kiki effect, in which meaningless speech sounds are systematically mapped onto rounded or angular shapes, reflects a universal crossmodal correspondence between audition and vision. Here, radial frequency (RF) patterns were adapted in order to compare the Bouba/Kiki effect in Eastern and Western participants demonstrating different perceptual styles. Three attributes of the RF patterns were manipulated: The frequency, amplitude, and spikiness of the sinusoidal modulations along the circumference of a circle. By testing participants in the US and Taiwan, both cultural commonalities and differences in sound-shape correspondence were revealed. RF patterns were more likely to be matched with “Kiki” than with “Bouba” when the frequency, amplitude, and spikiness increased. The responses from both groups of participants had a similar weighting on frequency; nevertheless, the North Americans had a higher weighting on amplitude, but a lower weighting on spikiness, than their Taiwanese counterparts. These novel results regarding cultural differences suggest that the Bouba/Kiki effect is partly tuned by differing perceptual experience. In addition, using the RF patterns in the Bouba/Kiki effect provides a “mid-level” linkage between visual and auditory processing, and a future understanding of sound-shape correspondences based on the mechanism of visual pattern processing.
Bouba-Kiki Activity: Find out if certain symbolic characteristics, like sharpness and roundedness, are typically associated with specific sounds.
Le mot "Bouba" est universellement associé à une forme ronde et le mot "Kiki" à une forme pointue, mais pourquoi ? Des chercheurs français ont enfin élucidé ce mystère vieux de près d'un siècle... Par la physique des objets.
Benoît Mandelbrot est décédé jeudi dernier des suites d’un cancer. C’est pour lui rendre hommage que Futura-Sciences vous propose cette vidéo résolument hypnotique, une manière originale de dire au revoir à un grand homme qui a marqué la science.
