Sound symbolism in personal names: Experimental and corpus-based explorations

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K13448
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: Kawahara Shigeto 慶應義塾大学, 言語文化研究所(三田), 准教授 (80718792)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 言語学 / 音声学 / 音象徴 / 言語学教育 / アウトリーチ活動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Most linguistic theories in the twentieth century have assumed that the relationships between sounds and meanings are in principle arbitrary. Recent research in linguistics and psychology has shown that we observe patterns of sound symbolism, systematic associations between sounds and meanings. In this research, I have used experimentation and corpus-based research to explore the nature of sound symbolic patterns in natural languages. The primary target language was Japanese, but through collaborative research, I have also conducted research on other languages, including English and Brazilian Portuguese. The overall research has revealed intriguing patterns of systematic sound-meaning associations, as well as what their phonetic bases might be. I have also attempted to model sound symbolic patterns using a framework that is developed in the theoretical linguistics literature. I have published many research articles in international academic journals and gave talks at various venues.

Free Research Field

言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

音と意味の間に体系的なつながりがあり、また、そのつながりが音声学的な基盤を持っていることを明らかにすることで、従来の言語観の一つの根幹を成す「音と意味の恣意性」に対して、大きな風穴を開けることができた。また、ポケモンなどの名付けを研究することで、この音象徴現象を実際のマーケティングの場で生かすための基礎研究となることが期待される。さらに、ポケモンやプリキュアといった言語学に触れたことのない人にも親しみやすい題材を分析することによって、言語学を専門としない人や学生に対しても、言語分析の意義を発信することができた。この研究を通して、アメリカやブラジルの大学と共同研究を行い、学術的国際交流を深めた。