4.2. Imagic Icons

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Explanations for Magnitude Sound Symbolism
• High, front vowels (such as i) are associated
  with smallness (and related notions) low, back
  vowels (such as a, u) are associated with
  largeness (and related notions).
• Explanations Articulatory and acoustic
• Articulatory configurations of vowels
• Sapir (1929), Paget (1930), Bolinger (1968) The
  size of the mouth cavity ... is matched with the
  meaning. The small oral volume of i and
  larger oral volume of u or a are responsible
  for a kinesthetic impression of size associated
  with different vowels.

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Peterfalvi (1965) The further you penetrate the
  body, the darker it is there.
• Darkness/brightness of vowels are associated
  with large and small size, respectively.
• Brown (1958)
• Large objects usually produce dark (low
  frequency) sounds when pushed or moved in certain
  ways, whereas small objects produce bright (high
  frequency) sounds.

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Limitation of the explanations based on
  articulatory configurations
• Pitches and consonants?
• High tones (with higher F0), voiceless obstruents
  (consonants formed by obstructing outward
  airflow, causing increased air pressure in the
  vocal tract subdivided into plosives,
  fricatives, and affricates), dental, alveolar,
  palatal and front velars (with higher frequencies
  of bursts, frication noise and/or formant
  transitions) are associated with SMALLNESS. Low
  tones (with lower F0), voiced consonants, labials
  and back velars (with lower frequency) are
  associated with LARGENESS.

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Acoustic The Frequency Code Theory
• John Ohala (1982, 1994)
• A general frequency code explains several types
  of size (magnitude) sound symbolism high
  frequency sounds connote small size, due to the
  fact that small animals make high frequency
  sounds and large animals make low frequency
  sounds.
• The potential to unify claims for magnitude
  symbolism in vowels, consonants, tones, and
  intonation.
• vocalizations by dominant and aggressive
  individuals are low-pitched, whereas
  vocalizations by submissive individuals are
  high-pitched.

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Lower pitch larger
• Animals in competition for some resource attempt
  to intimidate their opponent by trying to appear
  as large as possible.
• Body size (or apparent size)
• The F0 of voice the size of the signaler
• F0 is inversely related to the mass of the
  vibrating membrane (vocal cords in mammals),
  which, in turn, is correlated with overall body
  mass.
• High F0 to seem small and non-threatening
• Animal females are smaller in body size and vocal
  organ than males.

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• The adult male larynx 50 larger than the adult
  females in the anterior-posterior dimension
• ? lower F0
• The male larynx also lower in the throat than
  the females,
• making the vocal tract about 15-20 longer.
• ? lower resonances

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• A lower F0 ? a larger vocalizer ? related
  concepts such as aggression, dominance, and other
  related concepts, such as assertiveness,
  confidence, importance, etc
• A higher F0 ? appeasement, submission, and
  related concepts in the opposite direction, such
  as social subordinacy, politeness, non-threat.

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• SMALLNESS / LARGENESS related notions
• S feminine L masculine
• S friendly L aggressive
• S lovely, affectionate L formidable
• S familiar L unfamiliar
• S simple L complex
• S informal, casual L formal, rigid
• S uncertain, flimsy, less confident - certain,
  firm, confident
• S faster L slower
• S near L far

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• The Frequency Code Manifestations in Pitch (F0)
• 1. Intonation
• Languages use high and/or rising F0 to mark
  questions and low and/or falling F0 to mark
  statements.
• High and/or rising F0 ? deference, politeness,
  submission, lack of confidence
• Low/or falling F0 ? assertiveness, authority,
  aggression, confidence, threat.
• ??????
• ???! ?
• ??? ?
• ??! ?

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• 2. Tone Changes in Cantonese (F0)
• Tone sandhi In Guangzhou Cantonese
• ???? 53 53 gt 55 53
• example ?53 ?53 gt ?55?53
• ???? 53 55 gt 55 55
• example ?53 ?55 gt ?55?55
• In Hong Kong Cantonese no tone sandhi
• The ?? pinj?m (tone change) phenomenon in
  Cantonese
• 55 ????21 gt ?55
• 35 ????21 gt ?35
• ?? refers to a very particular tone change in
  Cantonese which affects the original meaning of a
  word with an unchanged base tone in a systematic
  way.
• small things or familiar things one often
  speaks of

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• ?21 gt ???55 (only one person, one person alone)
• ?21 gt ???55 (that person, with derogatory,
  contemptuous sense)
• ??21 gt ???35???35
• ?21 in its base tone means sugar
• ?35 means candy
• Derivation of ??
• ??from a ?? tone is almost always high level
  (55)
• ?? from ???????? tones is almost always high
  rising (35)

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4.2. Imagic Icons
Original Tone Example of underlying word Example of 55 ?? Example of 35 ??
?? 55 (53) ?55 smoke (in general) ?55 smoke (of tobacco)
?? 21 (11) ?21 sugar ?21 writing, literature ?55 a cash, a dollar ?35 candy
(?? 35) --- --- ---
?? 23 (13) ?23 woman, female ?35 daughter
?? 33 ?33 appearance ?35 portrait
?? 22 ?33 kind, sort ?35 manner
??? 55 (53) ?53 black ?55 pigeon ?55 black ??35 white pigeon
??? 33 ?33 pagoda ?35 pagoda
?? 22 ?22 honey ?35 bee
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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Characteristics of ??
• (1) Some of the ?? words have diminutive senses
  (small things, familiar things, unimportant
  things, lovely things)
• ??21???21 ---- ??35(??)???35
• ?21 sugar --- ?35 candy
• ?23 woman, female --- ?35 daughter
• ??33 --- ??35
• ??21 ---- ???35???35??35?
• ????????????????????
• (2) ?? tends to occur in nouns, and it usually
  occurs on the last syllable of a noun.
• ??21 gt ??35
• ??21 gt ??35
• ??21 gt ??35
• ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??????

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• ?? in Cantonese and ?? in Mandarin
• The retroflex suffix ? in Mandarin
  (???suffixation ??).
• The major characteristics of ?? in Mandarin
• (1) ?? words often have diminutive senses (small
  things, familiar things, unimportant things,
  lovely things)
• e.g. ?? gt ???
• (2) ?? tends to occur in nouns, and it usually
  occurs on the last syllable of a noun.
• e.g. ?(to draw, verb) gt ?? (drawing, picture,
  noun)
• ???
• ???
• ?21 yellow gt ?35 yolk (Cantonese)
• ? yellow gt ?? yolk (Mandarin)
• ? cap gt ?35 small cap (Cantonese)
• ? cap gt ?? small cap (Mandarin)
• nominalization marker, diminutive marker

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• ?????? ?????? (11) -- ????? ??????? (35)
• ?? (22) -- ??? (35)
• ??? (11) -- ?? (35)
• ??? (11) -- ?? (35)
• ??? (11) -- ?? (35)
• ? (11) -- ?? (35)??? (35)??? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ??? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ??? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ??? (35)
• ??? (22) -- ??? (35)
• ?? (33) -- ?????? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ?? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ?? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ?? (35)

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• ?? (11) -- ?? (35)
• ???? (11) -- ?? (35)
• ??? (22) -- ??? (35)
• ?? (13) -- ?? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ?????? (35)
• ?? (11) -- ?? (35)

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• The Frequency Code Manifestations in Vowels (F2)
• 1. Diminutives in English
• A diminutive lt Latin deminuere to lessen is a
  formation of a word used to convey a slight
  degree of the root meaning, smallness of the
  object named, intimacy, or endearment.
• A comparison of diminutive forms in Mandarin,
  Cantonese, and English ????

Sound Symbolic? F0 F2
Mandarin suffix ? ? -- --
Cantonese ? Yes Yes No
English suffixes Yes No Yes
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4.2. Imagic Icons

• English diminutives --
• The most common form diminutive ending, a
  syllable tacked on to the end of a name that
  signifies little and related concepts.
• (1) let lit (small, unimportant things lt Old
  French -elet)
• booklet, piglet, leaflet, starlet, craterlet,
  riverlet
• (2) ette et (small, inferior things, female lt
  Old French, feminine of -et)
• kitchenette, cigarette, diskette (small things),
  leatherette (imitation, inferior thing),
  usherette, majorette (female)
• (3) ess is (female) lt Old French -esse
• lioness, waitress, actress, authoress, manageress
• (4) ling (one that is young, small, or inferior)
• duckling, princeling (a prince judged to be of
  minor status or importance), weakling, hireling,
  underling (one of lesser rank or authority than
  another)

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• (5) ee i (small, passive) lt French passive
  participle ending é
• bootee (a soft, usually knitted shoe for a baby),
  employee, trainee, nominee
• (6) y, ie i (indicating smallness, intimacy,
  familiarity, endearment, etc)
• kitty, pussy, puppy, doggy, movies, undies,
  nighty (nightie), daddy, mummy, aunty (auntie),
  Aussy,
• English nicknames
• Rebert Bob (truncated) Bobby (diminutive)
• Magerate Mag (truncated) Maggy (diminutive)
• Albert gt Bertie
• Barbara gt ?Barbie
• Amanda gt Mandy
• Andrew gt Andy

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Albert gt Bertie
• Barbara gt ?Barbie
• Amanda gt Mandy
• Andrew gt Andy
• Charles gt Charlie
• Patricia gt Patty
• Angela gt Angie
• Anna gt Annie
• Bernard gt ?Bernie
• James gt Jimmy
• Elizabeth gt Betty
• Frances gt Fanny
• John gt Johnny

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4.2. Imagic Icons
Language feminine diminutive
English major majorette dinner dinette
Hebrew axyan nephew axyanit niece mapa tablecloth mapit napkin
Hindi ghanta bell ghanti small bell
Dizi dad boy dade girl kiemu pot kieme small pot
Mongolian noyan prince noyiqan princess ula?n red ulu?aqan red (of nice little things

• Female given names in Chinese
• ?fen??feng??xin??yi??yi??ling??lin??min??ying??jie
  ??jing??jing??si??ting??li??si??xin??xin??xing??yi
  n??zhi??zhi
• Female referents in Chinese
• ?qi??qie??ji??(?)ji??jie??zi??jin??mei??yi??bi??bi
  ??pin??ni??mei??e??di

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• 2. Demonstratives
• Words with higher F2 proximal (near)
• Words with lower F2 distal (far)
• Cantonese ni (proximal) ko (distal)
• Mandarin zhe (proximal) na (distal)
• English this (proximal) that (distal)
• German diese (proximal) das (distal)
• Dutch dit (proximal) dat (distal)
• Chinook (Amerindian) i (proxmial) u (distal)
• Maya (Amerindian) li (proxmial) la (distal)
• Tamil idi (proximal) adi (distal)
• Thai nii (proximal) nan (distal)
• Burmese dil (proximal) thoo (distal)

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4.2. Imagic Icons

• Traunmüllers (1996) statistics i gt e gt a gt o gt
  u
• Among these cases, 32 supported our hypothesis
  and there were only 4 counterexamples. We can be
  highly confident in this hypothesis, since the
  binomial probability of observing no more than 4
  counterexamples among 36 cases is only 1.1 10-7.
  Table 1 shows the distribution of the vowels in
  the sample.
• Chinese Yue, Hakka, Wu (download here)