Nobile & Mompean - Phonemes as images

An Experimental Enquiry into Visual Synaesthetic Sound Symbolism Applied to the Distinctive Features of French

Luca NobileUniversité de BourgogneEA 4178 CPTC – Grelisc

Pilar Mompeán-GuillamónUniversidad Castilla-La Mancha

Dept of Modern Languages

Rikkyo University, TokyoIconicity : East meets West

9th International Symposium on Iconicity in Language and Literature3-5 May, 2013

Phonemes as Images

Intro0.1 The maluma-takete experiment

• A classic of experimental psychology– Conceived by Uznadze (1924) – Popularised by Köhler (1929)– Comparatively tested in English and

Swahili by Davis (1961)– In French by Peterfalvi (1964)– Today in USA by Ramachandran and

Hubbard (2001) who changed names in booba-kiki.

• A curvilinear figure is with respect to an angular one the same as what /maluma/ is to /takete/

• A result that surprises for its constancy and clarity

/takete/

/maluma/

90/100%{rounded} : {angular} = /maluma/ : /takete/

2L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images

Outline Phonemes as images

1. Analysis of the phonological features explaining the strong result of the maluma-takete experiment.

2. Hypothesis: every phonological feature as an individual sound symbolic value which can be tested by experiments.

3. Discussion of results and perspectives


• Systematic differential approach, through distinctive features

• The lack of this type of approach represents the main difficulty identified by Jakobson and Waugh (1979) within the domain of the research on « impressive phonetics » about the significative value of phonemes (Grammont 1933).

• Arbitrariness-motivation conciliation through a radicalization of both.

An Experimental Enquiry into Visual Synaesthetic Sound Symbolism Applied to the Distinctive Features of French

1.0 First questioning

• Question those data of experimental psychology from the theoretical and technical perspective of linguistics

• Which are the distinctive features that make us perceive the audiovisual analogy maluma-takete?

– Articulatory analysis– Acoustic analysis

/maluma/ : /takete/

/m/ [+/-] : /t/ [+/-]

/l/ [+/-] : /k/ [+/-]

/u/ [+/-] : /e/ [+/-]

/a/ [+/-] : /e/ [+/-]


• /maluma/ : /takete/ =

• = /m/ : /t/• = /l/ : /k/________________________________

• [open-relaxed] : [closed-tense]• [continuous] : [explosive]• [voiced] : [voiceless]• [distributed] : [concentrated]

• = /u/ : /e/________________________________

• [back] : [front]• [rounded] : [unrounded]• [distributed] : [concentrated]

• = /a/ : /e/________________________________

• [back] : [front]• [open] : [closed]

1.1 Articulatory analysis


1.2 Acoustic analysis

• /maluma/ : /takete/=

• = /111111/ : /010101/• [continuous] : [discontinuous]

• = /ma/ : /ta/• = /l/ : /k/________________________________

• [continuous] : [explosive]• [voiced] : [voiceless]• [grave] : [acute]

• = /u/ : /e/• = /a/ : /e/________________________________

• [grave] : [acute]


1.3 Summary of the analysis of the features

Articulation• Muscular relaxation• Continuous constriction of air flow• Dispersion of effort points

• Muscular tension• Obstruction + explosion of air flow• Concentration of an effort point

Audition• Continuity of laryngeal tone• Periodicity, regularity of sounds• Grave frequency of voicing

• Discontinuity of laryngeal tone• Aperiodicity, irregularity of noises• Acute frequency of swishing

/maluma/ /takete/


{OBTUSE : ACUTE}

{CURVILINEAR : ANGULAR}

{CONTINUOUS : DISCONTINUOUS}

{REGULAR : IRREGULAR}

{DENSE : SPARSE}

2.0 Second questioning

• Do these phono-articulatory features operate in a collective manner or can we distinguish – Their relative importance– Their specific values

in reference to the graphic-visual features of the figures?

• To answer this question, we have elaborated two new experiments.

• They aim to isolate:– The graphic features of the

figures– The phonological features

of the words

[VOICED : VOICELESS]

[CONTINUOUS : EXPLOSIVE]

[DENTAL : VELAR]

[NASAL : ORAL]

/gavada/ : /kafata//vadaga/ : /fataca/

/suʒaf/ : /tugap//suʒav/ : /tukab/

/dotus/ : /gokuʃ//datis/ : /gakiʃ/

/nimuɲ/ : /zivuʒ//meɲan/ : /veʒaz/


Siki

I have decided to distinguish between graphic traits and phonological features. That way, if you speak of traits, you know you are dealing with the figures, whereas when referring to words we can use features. It's more conventional than anything else.

2.1 First experiment

• Testing the traditional figures with new words (N=42)

1. The traditional words accumulating various features

2. Neutralisation of the vocalic oppositions and isolation of the consonantal features of manner, voicing and nasality

3. Isolation of the voicing feature

4. Neutralisation of the consonantal oppositions and isolation of the vocalic feature of place

5. Combination of grave consonants and acute vowels

1. /maluma/ : /takete/ 97.1%2. /nilu/ : /kitu/ 95.0%3. /gavada/ : /kafata/ 92.6%4. /dugo/ : /degi/ 84.6%5. /meli/ : /toku/ 80.9%

NOTE

• Relevance of the consonant feature of voicing

• Relative weakness of the vocalic oppositions


2.2 Second experiment 1/3

• Isolation of the graphic features of acuteness and continuity and their parallelism (N=45)

• {obtuse : acute} = {continuous : discontinuous}= 1 & 6 traditional words = 2 & 7 [voiced] : [voiceless]= 3 & 8 [fricative] : [plosive]= 4 & 9 [nasal] : [oral]≠ 5 & 10 [velar] : [dental]

NOTE• Relevance of the accumulation of

features (1 et 6)• Relevance of voicing (2 et 7)• Relevance of manner & nasality (3,4,8,9)• Weak or none: place (5,10)

1. /maluma/: /takete/ 88.8 (11.1)

2. /gavada/: /kafata/ 82.2 (17.7)

3. /suʒaf/ : /tugap/ 68.8 (24.4)

4. /nimuɲ/ : /zivuʒ/ 80.0 (17.7)

5. /gokuʃ/ : /dotus/ 44.4 (28.8)

6. /buba/ : /kiki/ 82.2 (15.5)

7. /vadaga/: /fataca/ 75.5 (20.0)

8. /suʃav/ : /tukab/ 68.8 (24.4)

9. /meɲan/ : /veʒaz/ 64.4 (28.8)

10./gakiʃ/ : /datis/ 44.4 (42.2)


% (vs)

1. /maluma/: /takete/ 100.0 (0)

2. /gavada/: /kafata/ 91.3 (8.6)

3. /suʒaf/ : /tugap/ 76.8 (18.8)

4. /nimuɲ/ : /zivuʒ/ 60.8 (28.9)

5. /dotus/ : /gokuʃ/ 57.9 (30.4)

6. /buba/ : /kiki/ 46.3 (46.3)

7. /vadaga/: /fataca/ 55.0 (40.5)

8. /suʃav/ : /tukab/ 49.2 (47.8)

9. /meɲan/ : /veʒaz/ 46.3 (46.3)

10./datis/ : /gakiʃ/ 60.8 (33.3)


• Isolation of the curvature and regularity features and their divergence (N=69)

• {curvilinear : angular}= 2. [voiced] :

[voiceless]= 3. [fricative] :

[plosive]= 4. [nasal] : [oral]

• {regular : irregular}= 10. [dental] : [velar]

NOTE• Curvature correlates particularly with

voicing, manner and nasality (2, 3, 4)• Regularity correlates particularly with

place, scarcely significant elsewhere11L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images

% (vs)

1. /maluma/: /takete/ 84.6 (3.8)

2. /gavada/: /kafata/ 91.6 (3.8)

3. /suʒaf/ : /tugap/ 57.6 (30.7)

4. /nimuɲ/ : /zivuʒ/ 57.6 (34.6)

5. /gokuʃ/ : /dotus/ 50.0 (38.4)

6. /buba/ : /kiki/ 53.8 (42.3)

7. /fataca/: /vadaga/ 53.8 (42.3)

8. /tukab/ : /suʃav/ 50.0 (38.4)

9. /meɲan/ : /veʒaz/ 65.3 (30.7)

10./gakiʃ/ : /datis/ 61.5 (34.6)


• Test of traditional figures and isolation of the density feature (N=26)

• {curvilinear : angular}= 2. [voiced] :

[voiceless]= 3. [fricative] :

[plosive]= 4. [nasal] : [oral]

• {dense : sparse}= 9. [nasal] : [oral]= 10. [velar] : [dental]

NOTE• Confirmation of the complementary

distribution between:– voicing, manner– place of articulation


% (vs)

3.1 Discussion of results

• Voicing is the most significant phonological feature for audiovisual synaesthesia with the graphic features obtuseness, curvature and continuity.

• Manner of articulation and nasality are constantly correlated with these very same graphic features. They have a parallel behaviour to that of voicing.

• Place only correlates weakly with the features mentioned above. On the contrary, it correlates with regularity and density, which are little significant for the other phonological features. Place has, therefore, a complementary behaviour in relation to the other features.

[voiceless][plosive][oral]

[voiced][fricative]

[nasal]

[palato-velar]

[alveo-dental]



• The correlation of [voicing] and [nasality] with {obtuseness}, {curvature} and {continuity} seems particularly dependent on the acoustic features [grave : acute], as the voiced and nasals are more grave than the voiceless and orals.

• The correlation of [manner of articulation] with {obtuseness}, {curvature} and {continuity} is not dependent on [grave : acute] and seems to reside particularly on phono-articulatory features of intensity such as [continuous : explosive].

[oral]

[voiceless]

[plosive]

[nasal]

[voiced]

[fricative]

[acute][grave]

[continuous] [explosive]



• The singularity of [place] is the most interesting result.

• Place [alveo-dental : palato-velar] is the only feature which correlates with both {regular : irregular} and {sparse : dense} while it does not correlate with other graphic features.

• Possible explanation: [alveo-dental] is in opposition with [palato-velar] not only as [acute : grave] but also as {defined : undefined}, in its acoustic profile as well as in its articulatory gesture.

• If it is so, we can predict that a pair of figures {defined : undefined} will correlate strongly with [alveo-dental : palato-velar].

[palato-velar]

[alveo-dental]

[acute] [grave]

6 kHz 6 kHz

/s/ /ʃ/


[defined] [undefined]

1.15 Conclusion 2/2

Thak you!

[email protected]

[email protected]>

http://www.lucanobile.eu/

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Nobile & Mompean - Phonemes as images