Priming Boubas and Kikis: Searching For a Sound Symbolic Priming Effect
Date
2014-09-29
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Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated a tendency to pair nonwords like bouba with round shapes, and nonwords like kiki with sharp shapes. This is evidence against the arbitrariness of language, and supports the notion that phonemes can be inherently meaningful (i.e., sound symbolism). However many of these studies used explicit tasks. I investigated if the Bouba/Kiki effect would emerge on a more implicit measure: a priming task. Across six experiments I varied instructions and stimuli and in some experiments a priming effect was observed: participants were faster or more accurate when responding to shapes following a congruent than an incongruent nonword prime. The categorization of neutral shapes was also impacted by the type of nonword prime. These results provide some support for the possibility of sound symbolic priming.
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Keywords
Linguistics, Psychology--Cognitive, Psychology--Experimental
Citation
Sidhu, D. (2014). Priming Boubas and Kikis: Searching For a Sound Symbolic Priming Effect (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27431