Browsing by Subject "äännesymbolismi"

Objectives and theoretical background: Traditionally, it has been considered that the relation between word and meaning is arbitrary, but this traditional view has been challenged. Sound symbolism refers to an association that links a word to its reference on perceptual or semantic level. Thus, the phonetic form of a word could serve as a cue for understanding the meaning of the word. Sound symbolic associations may have contributed to the evolution of language, as well as facilitate language and word learning. This study focuses on the association between a vowel sound and spatial distance, a phenomenon known as vowel-distance association. The goal of this study is to investigate, whether there is a sound symbolic association between vowel frontness, openness or roundness and spatial distance. Previous studies suggest that front vowels are associated with spatial proximity (close) and back vowels with spatial distance (remote). However, there is presumably only one experimental study that has confirmed such vowel-distance association, and it was conducted with English speaking participants, and vowel features were not properly controlled. This study aims to replicate the association in a new language group. With more efficient control of the basic vowel features, the study aims to clarify, whether vowel-distance association is merely based on vowel frontness or vowel openness and/or roundness as well. Methods: To investigate the role of vowel frontness, openness and roundness in vowel-distance association, this study utilized a novel behavioural setting. The experiment consisted of four blocks, and during each of these blocks, two distinct vowels were visually presented to the participant ([i] – [o], [i] – [æ], [ø] – [e] and [ø] – [o]). The participants (N = 25) were native Finnish speakers, and they were instructed to pronounce the presented vowel and simultaneously move their hand on a close or remote response button. Manual reaction times, vocal reaction times and acoustic parameters of the sound (F0, F1, F2, intensity) were recorded during the experiment. The reaction time data and the acoustic data were analysed with repeated measures ANOVA, and special attention was paid to the interaction effects of block, vowel and distance. Results and conclusions: The previously discovered vowel-distance association was only partially replicated in this study, and some of the results contradict with the idea that vowel-distance association is merely based on vowel frontness. In the first block of the study, back vowel [o] was associated with remoteness, but front vowel [i] was not associated with closeness. In the second block, open front vowel [æ] was associated with remoteness and closed front vowel [i] with closeness. In the third block, round front vowel [ø] was associated with remoteness, whereas unrounded front vowel [e] did not show any associations. In the last block, round front vowel [ø] was associated with remoteness and round back vowel [o] with closeness. Taken together, this study does not provide strong support for the vowel-distance association based on vowel frontness. Instead, the study suggests that vowel-distance association may be modulated by vowel openness and/or roundness, but further research on this topic is needed. This study also revealed a presumably novel finding that the distance of hand movement affects the intensity and fundamental frequency of vowel pronunciation.

This thesis investigated a sound-space phenomenon related to sound-symbolic associations between vowel sounds [i] and [æ] and spatial meanings up and down. This vowel-height congruency effect was investigated with two experiments utilizing speeded choice reaction time (CRT) tasks. In Experiment 1, participants were required to vocalize [i] or [æ] while being presented with visual stimuli moving either up or down. The task was indirect, so that the phenomenon under investigation was masked by instructing the vocalizations to be produced according to distance of movement, rather than location. Due to this masking, the sound-magnitude effect typically associating high (close) vowels with small distances and low (open) vowels with large distances was also investigated in this thesis. In Experiment 2, participants produced responses according to the location of visual stimulus (up/down) or according to the aurally presented vowels [i] and [æ], while being presented with both stimuli simultaneously. In both experiments, reaction time (RT) measures were analyzed. In Experiment 1, acoustic characteristics (fundamental frequency F0, and formants F1, F2) of the vocalizations were also analyzed. The results showed, that there is a sound-symbolic association between the vowel [i] and spatial meaning up, based on the stimulus-response congruency observed in reaction time measures. The sound-magnitude effect was also found to be robust in these experiments. The sound-space association between [æ] and spatial meaning down was not found to be significant. The sound-space effect also emerged only in the experiment requiring vocalizations, and not in the experiment requiring manual responses. The sound-space effect was present in the reaction time measures, and not in the vocal characteristics of vocalizations. It was concluded, that the vowel-height congruency effect can be robustly observed (i.e., in relation to both vocal responses) only when the experimental task requires intentional and task-relevant processing of the concepts up and down. It was also estimated, that the sound-space effect related to vowel sounds [i] and [æ] and spatial meanings up/down may not be as strong, as for instance the sound-magnitude effect. Regarding the possible underlying mechanisms of sound-symbolic associations, some evidence supporting the embodiment-based articulatory views on sound symbolism was found. In addition, the intrinsic vowel pitch (IVP) phenomenon was replicated in this thesis, and it was demonstrated, that the intrinsic pitch is an important core property of vowel sounds that influences also sound-symbolic associations.

Tutkielmassa käsitellään suomea äidinkielenään puhuville miehille ja naisille vuosina 1917–2016 annettujen ensimmäisten etunimien, ensinimien, foneettista ulkoasua ja siinä tapahtunutta vaihtelua. Tavoitteena on selvittää taustalla vallitsevaa foneettista sosiaalista makua, eli minkälaisia äänteitä nimenantajat ovat suosineet kunakin vuonna. Tätä tutkitaan nimissä tapahtuneen vaihtelun ja siinä esiintyvien trendien kautta. Osaltaan tutkielmassa pyritään myös analysoimaan trendien taustalla vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Aineistona toimii Kotimaisten kielten keskuksesta saatu lista kaikista suomalaisista ensinimistä ja niiden antovuosista. Aineistossa on noin 6,4 miljoonaa nimeä, ja täten datan käsittely tehdään täysin koneellisesti. Tältä pohjalta data esitetään erilaisina suhteellisen yksinkertaisina kaavioina. Analyysityökaluna käytetään äännesymboliikkaa ja etenkin frekvenssikoodia, sonoranttihierarkiaa ja suomen äänteiden väriä. Näitä ja eufonian käsitettä avataan eri näkökulmista teorialuvussa. Osaltaan analyysi nojaa myös historialliseen yhteiskunnalliseen kontekstiin. Tutkimuksen taustana käsitellään nimien luonnetta, nimen vaikutusta kantajaansa, nimen valintaa, nimipaikkojen eroja, nimien sukupuolieroja sekä suomen kielen fonetiikkaa ja etenkin fonotaksia. Tutkielmassa ilmenee vahvoja äänteiden vaihtelua koskevia trendejä. Sekä miesten että naisten nimissä on esiintynyt samansuuntaista vaihtelua ensin kohti maskuliinista 1940-luvulla sodan jälkeen ja sitten etenkin 1980-luvulta kohti feminiinistä. Nimien feminiinistymisen trendi on havaittu myös Yhdysvalloissa, ja tämä tulos herättääkin kysymyksiä laajemmasta nimen ja kulttuurin muutoksesta. Myös moni sukupuolitetuksi mielletty nimien äännepiirre saa tutkielmassa tukea. Naisten nimet tosiaankin loppuvat poikkeuksellisen usein ⟨a⟩:han ja miesten nimet sisältävät paljon klusiileja ja ⟨r⟩:iä. Naisten nimissä esiintyy paljon pehmeitä äänteitä kuten ⟨n⟩, ⟨l⟩ ja ⟨m⟩. Vokaalien suhteen miesten nimissä esiintyy enemmän takaisia ja laveita, naisten nimissä etisiä ja suppeita vokaaleja. Tätä sääntöä tosin rikkoo naisten nimissä erittäin yleinen ⟨a⟩. Toisaalta miehiseksi mielletty loppu-⟨o⟩ ei enää näytä olevan voimissaan, ja mielenkiintoisena trendinä 2010-luvulla annetuista suomalaisista miestennimistä jo kolmannes loppuu konsonanttiin. Tutkielma tarjoaa uuden tavan selvittää nimien vaihtelua ja nimitrendejä. Sen sijaan, että keskityttäisiin kokonaisiin nimiin, jolloin voi tutkia pelkästään yleisimpiä yksittäistapauksia, keskitytäänkin nimien rakennepalikoihin, grafeemeihin, sekä niitä vastaaviin foneemeihin. Näin pystytään tutkimaan koko nimistöä hyvinkin monipuolisesti. Tämä tutkielma on vasta pintaraapaisu, mutta vastaavalla menetelmällä on monenlaista potentiaalia.