| Kommentar |
This course introduces key concepts within the area of sound symbolism. Sound symbolism refers to the apparent association between particular sounds and particular meanings in language. As such, it is located at an intersection of psycholinguistics, semantics, and phonology. While this course is especially interesting for those who took part in the course 'Psycholinguistics' in winter 2021/2022, no previous knowledge of psycholinguistics is required.
The most prominent example of sound symbolism is the phenomenon of bouba and kiki. Commonly, speakers of any language ascribe bouba a round shape, while kiki is ascribed a spiked shape. Thus, apparently this association of sound and shape is language universal. Other prominent examples are the interactions of speech sounds and size, as well as of features of Pokémon and their Japanese names. In this course, we will read and discuss research literature on such topics.
Importantly, this course aims at a twofold learning outcome for all participants: First, participants are introduced to relevant research literature in the area of sound symbolism. Second, participants’ skill sets in reading research literature, in writing the essential parts of linguistic (term) papers, and in understanding statistics are trained. |
| Literatur |
We will read selected research literature - mainly journal articles - on the topic of sound symbolism. All readings will be made available on ILIAS. There is no textbook.
Literature (selection; may be subject to change):
- Cwiek, A., Fuchs, S., Draxler, C., Asu, E. L., Dediu, D., Hiovain, K., Kawahara, S., Koutalidis, S., Krifka, M., Lippus, P., Lupyan, G., Oh, G. E., Paul, J., Petrone, C., Ridouane, R., Reiter, S., Schümchen, N., Szalontai, Á., Ünal-Logacev, Ö., … Winter, B. (2022). The bouba/kiki effect is robust across cultures and writing systems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1841). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0390
- Kawahara, S., Noto, A., & Kumagai, G. (2018). Sound symbolic patterns in Pokémon names. Phonetica, 75(3), 219–244. https://doi.org/10.1159/000484938
- Sidhu, D. M., Westbury, C., Hollis, G., & Pexman, P. M. (2021). Sound symbolism shapes the English language: The maluma/takete effect in English nouns. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28(4), 1390–1398. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-01883-3
- Svantesson, J. (2017). Sound symbolism: the role of word sound in meaning. WIREs Cognitive Science, 8(5). https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1441
- Winter, B., & Perlman, M. (2021). Size sound symbolism in the English lexicon. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1646
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| Leistungsnachweis |
General requirements: All participants are required to actively participate in in-class discussions, to submit assignments, and to prepare readings. Depending on your course of studies, additionally, the following applies:
- Kernfach Anglistik: term paper (up to 20 pages)
- Ergänzungsfach Anglistik with AP: term paper (up to 20 pages) or oral exam
- Ergänzungsfach Anglistik without AP: general requirements only
- Other courses of study: please be referred to your Modulhandbuch
We will talk about general and specific requirements in the first session. |
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