The role of position, type, and combination of sound symbolism imbeds in brand names

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Klink ◽  
Lan Wu
Keyword(s):  
Brand Names ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Position Type

Affect and iconicity in phonological variation

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Annette D'Onofrio ◽  
Penelope Eckert
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
Production Studies ◽  
Basic Level

Abstract The study of iconic properties of language has been marginalized in linguistics, with the assumption that iconicity, linked with expressivity, is external to the grammar. Yet iconicity plays an essential role in sociolinguistic variation. At a basic level, repetition and phonetic intensification can intensify the indexicality of variables. Iconicity plays a further role in variation in the form of sound symbolism, linking properties of sounds with attributes or objects. Production studies have shown some phonological variables exhibiting sound symbolism, particularly in the expression of affect. In some cases, the observation of sound symbolism has been largely interpretive. But in others, stylistic variability as a function of speaker affect has provided empirical evidence of iconicity. This article examines the role of iconicity and performativity in transcending the limits of reference, reviews iconicity in production studies, and provides experimental evidence that sound symbolism influences how listeners attribute affect to linguistic variation. (Variation, iconicity, affect)

Timbre-Centered Listening in the Soundscape of Tuva

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Levin ◽  
Valentina Süzükei
Keyword(s):  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Great Precision ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
The Voice

This chapter explores timbre-centered listening as an enculturated practice among Tuvan pastoralists, whose perceptual focus on timbral qualities of sound correlates with exceptional acuity to ambient soundscape. Tuvan pastoralists’ prioritization of timbre as a locus of interest extends to human-made sound and music and is reflected in the timbre of two-stringed fiddles strung with horsehair strings, metal jaw harps, and the widespread vocal practice of xöömei, whose performers selectively reinforce harmonics naturally present in the voice. Enculturated listeners can describe the timbral qualities of sound with great precision using an ideophonic vocabulary consisting of onomatopoeia and other forms of sound symbolism, cross-modal sensory associations (e.g., the depiction of sound in visual and haptic terms), and affective words, which comprise a rich lexical resource. The central role of timbre in Tuvan music and its depiction in discourse about sound and music suggest a culturally specific and pervasive form of timbre-centered listening.

scholarly journals Are Tims hot and Toms not?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Hartung
Keyword(s):  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Functional Feature ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Gender Group ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
The Relationship

Sound symbolism – the idea that there are motivated links between the sound of a word and its meaning has been established to be an existing phenomenon across different languages. Especially size sound symbolism seems to be a functional feature in many languages meaning that different types of vowels in words are associated with different physical size. Words with front vowels (e.g. little, tiny) are more likely to be used to indicate small physical size whereas words with back vowels (e.g. humungous, huge) are more likely to indicate large physical size. Because physical size plays an important role in ratings of attractiveness, we tested whether vowels in first names can influence how attractive the bearer of the name is perceived. In our experiment, participants saw faces paired with popular first names and rated the attractiveness of the depicted person. Masculine names were paired with pictures of men and feminine names with pictures of women. The names either contained a front or back vowel in the accented syllable and were within gender group randomly paired with pictures. We found that female raters preferred faces paired with back vowel names while male raters preferred faces paired with front vowel names, showing that the rater's gender – far more than the gender of the depicted person – determined the relationship between vowel quality and perceived attractiveness of faces. Our results confirm the role of sound symbolism in perception of attractiveness.

Pseudohomophones as brand names

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 1909-1930
Author(s):  
Jasmina Ilicic ◽  
Stacey Baxter ◽  
Alicia Kulczynski
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Superiority Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Real ◽  
Brand Meaning ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this study is to introduce the homophone emotional interest superiority effect in phonological, or sound-based, priming, whereby pseudohomophone brand names (i.e. non-words that are pronounced identically to English words, for example, Bie) prime brand meaning associated with the member of the homophone pair that is emotionally interesting (i.e. Bie will be prime brand avoidance (purchase) when consumers are emotionally interested in the homophone bye [buy]). Design/methodology/approach Studies 1 and 2 examine the effect of homophone emotional interest on brand judgements and behaviours. Study 3 investigates the role of boredom with the brand name in attenuating the homophone emotional interest superiority effect. Findings Findings indicate that pseudohomophone brand names prime brand judgements and behaviours associated with the word from the homophone pair that evokes emotional interest. Study 2 provides further evidence of homophone emotional interest as the process influencing brand judgements and behaviours. Study 3 establishes that the effect of pseudohomophone brand names on brand judgements weaken when boredom with the brand name is induced. Research limitations/implications This study is limited, as it focuses only on fictitious brands and methodologically creates boredom in a way in which may not be typical of what would be experienced in the real world. Practical implications This study has important implications for brand managers in the development of new brand names and in prioritising the intended homophone pair from a pseudohomophone brand name to influence consumer judgements and behaviours. Originality/value This study introduces and provides evidence of a homophone emotional interest superiority effect. This study also identifies a condition under which the homophone emotional interest superiority effect is attenuated.

THE ROLE OF STS IN MIMETIC-WORD PROCESSING: SOUND SYMBOLISM OR BIOLOGICAL MOTION?

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUNKO KANERO ◽  
MUTSUMI IMAI ◽  
HIROYUKI OKADA ◽  
TETSUYA MATSUDA
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Biological Motion ◽  
Sound Symbolism

scholarly journals Is Nike female? Exploring the role of sound symbolism in predicting brand name gender

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sridhar Moorthy ◽  
Ruth Pogacar ◽  
Samin Khan ◽  
Yang Xu
Keyword(s):  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Brand Name

scholarly journals ADVERTISING BRANDS BY MEANS OF SOUNDS SYMBOLISM: THE INFLUENCE OF VOWELS ON PERCEIVED BRAND CHARACTERISTICS

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Catalina Duduciuc
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Semantic Differential ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Applied Social Psychology ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
And Performance

The aim of this study is to test the influence of sound symbolism on perceived characteristics of a brand as well as to highlight the importance of applied social psychology to current practice of advertising. Previous research showed that the phonetic structure of brand name communicates its characteristics, i.e. it drives consumers to assess certain features and performance of the product. I assumed that when consumers encounter an unknown brand name, they automatically infer characteristics from the meaning conveyed by the sounds (e.g. phonemes). Therefore, I supposed that a brand name for a shampoo (artificially created on experimental purpose) containing back vowel is evaluated better by consumers when they compare it to another brand name with front vowels. Furthermore, for the accuracy of responses, I used the semantic differential scale to measure the differences between two brands in terms of certain attributes of product. To this end, fifty students (N=50) participated in a research based on questionnaire. As the results of the current research showed, the brand name with back vowel outnumbered the brand name with front vowel on two dimension, i.e. on brand activity and brand efficiency. The brand name containing front vowel was rated better when subjects evaluated the product in generally. Last, but not least, when it comes to convey meanings, the sound of back vowels [a] could be used more when marketers promote products that communicate its characteristics such as efficiency, velocity and health. The back vowel could be also assessed to products with larger packing or special sailing such as extra quantity. Meanwhile, the brand names with front vowels [ie] could be created for more expensive products with good quality, mainly addressed to men.

scholarly journals Featural-visual Indexicality and Sound-shape Congruency in a Phonologically Engineered Alphabet   

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia S. Suzuki, M.A.
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Articulatory Features

The term uniskript was coined to refer to a class of phonologically engineered alphabets that employ visual-featural indexicality combined with sound-shape congruency to represent speech. In this working paper, I introduce the uniskript methodology, an alphabet generator technique that uses indices instead of symbols to represent the flow of speech. I refer to the Peircean theory of signs to explain the crucial semiotic distinction between uniskript and the traditional alphabets: in uniskript, an icon resembling relevant articulatory features of a given phoneme is used to index sound to shape. I also indicate how the findings in sound-symbolism were incorporated into the indices to facilitate cross-modal correspondences.  I propose that uniskript indexical nature and sensorial mappings can explain why it is so much easier to learn than symbolic and sensory incongruent alphabets. I then briefly discuss how the study of uniskript alphabets can shed some light on the role of cross-modal correspondences in learning. It can also bring a deeper understanding of the role of phonology in sound symbolism. Finally, I refer to some applications of uniskript in the teaching of literacy and in remediating reading issues and illustrate the entire concept by introducing a uniskript alphabet developed as a tool to teach pronunciation in an ESL program. keywords: uniskript, alphabets, sound symbolism, sound-shape iconicity, cross-modal congruency, phonology, second language learning, pronunciation in L2

Influence of number magnitude in luxury brand names on consumer preference

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenting Feng ◽  
Tao Wang ◽  
Guo Rui
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Consumer Involvement ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Luxury Brands ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Luxury Brand ◽  
Number Magnitude ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moderating Role

In this study we built on scarcity theory, to conduct two experiments in which we investigated the influence of arbitrary numbers we inserted into brand names of luxury products. In Study 1 we recruited 68 consumers who were each assigned to one of two groups (small number or big number for brand name), in order to test consumers’ preferences for luxury brands with names of different number magnitudes. The results revealed that a product with a small number in the brand name was received more favorably than was a product with a big number in the name. Scarcity mediated the relationship between number magnitude and preference. In Study 2 we tested the moderating role of involvement. Number magnitude of the brand name influenced preference through scarcity when involvement was high but not when it was low. Thus, we found that numbers in the name of a luxury brand arbitrarily impacted consumers’ perceptions of scarcity, which influenced their preference in regard to brand. This relationship was moderated by involvement. The results suggest that manufacturers of luxury brands should use a small number in their brand name, and should increase the degree of consumer involvement to elevate consumer preference for the brand.

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