Effect of Language and Sex on Universal Phonetic Symbolism | Zendy

Carolann W. Roper | Zendy; Paul W. Dixon | Zendy; Elsie H. Ahern | Zendy; Verner L. Gibson | Zendy

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Effect of Language and Sex on Universal Phonetic Symbolism

Author(s) -

Carolann W. Roper,

Paul W. Dixon,

Elsie H. Ahern,

Verner L. Gibson

Publication year - 1976

Publication title -

language and speech

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.713

H-Index - 52

eISSN - 1756-6053

pISSN - 0023-8309

DOI - 10.1177/002383097601900409

Subject(s) - linguistics , white (mutation) , categorical variable , psychology , word (group theory) , mathematics , biology , biochemistry , philosophy , statistics , gene

Data from 48 four-year-old nursery school pupils supported the hypothesis that subjects could discriminate between categorical word dimensions in different languages. The subjects were presented with words in four word dimensions (loud, soft, large, small) in Hawaiian, French, Spanish, and English. Response choices of (1) small-black, (2) large-black, (3) small-white, and (4) large-white tokens indicated cultural and/or genetic sex differences. Males preferred black in association with soft and large word category dimensions and vice versa for females. Although white tokens were associated with small and soft words, results were reversed for Hawaiian. It was suggested that the Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) language family origin of Hawaiian, as compared to the Indo-European origin of English, French, and Spanish, could account for this difference in phonological symbolism.

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