Äännesymbolismi : assosioituuko vokaalin etisyys, avoimuus tai pyöreys spatiaaliseen etäisyyteen?

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.