1-112 - Sound Symbolism: New Insights into its Role in Language Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Sound symbolism refers to a non-arbitrary relationship between linguistic sounds and meanings. Although sensitivity to some sound symbolism has been identified by infants and adults, the nature and mechanism of sound symbolism sensitivity remains largely unknown. In this symposium, we present four papers that use different approaches and methods to address the nature of sound symbolism in natural language as well as the origin and developmental trajectory of sound symbolism sensitivity. The first paper reveals subtle but systematic statistical regularities between word sound and meaning in English and uses large corpus analysis to explore how this systematicity might foster language acquisition. The second paper examined the sensitivity to Köhler type sound symbolism in Dutch 9-, 25-, 37.5-month-olds and adults, and shows that sound symbolism sensitivity is not evident until 3 years of age, much later than found with other languages. The third paper tested English 3-, 5-, and 7-year-olds’ and found sound symbolism sensitivity to Köhler type novel words in all age groups. However, only the oldest age group detected covert sound symbolism in adjectives in foreign languages. The last paper identified sensitivity to sound symbolism both in 11-month-olds and adults in Japanese speakers but found difference in the ERP response between the two age groups. Together, the four papers suggest that although sensitivity to sound symbolism may arise, in part, from cross-modal perceptual mapping when there is direct iconicity between sound and meaning, sensitivity to subtler sound-meaning correspondences in natural language may also emerge early and change across development.

Sub Unit

• Language, Communication

Chairs

• Daphne Maurer, McMaster Univ

• Mutsumi Imai, Keio University At Sfc

Individual Presentations

• Arbitrariness and Systematicity in Vocabulary Structure - Presenting Author: Morten H. Christiansen, Cornell University; Padraic Monaghan, Lancaster University

• Sensitivity to the Bouba Kiki Effect Arises Late in Dutch Children: Evidence from Eye-tracking - Presenting Author: Paula Fikkert, Radboud University Nijmegen; Lammertink Imme, Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University; Sho Tsuji, RIKEN Brain Sciences Institute

• Developmental Change in Children’s Sensitivity to Sound Symbolism - Presenting Author: Laura L Namy, Emory Univ; Christina Tzeng, Emory University; Lynne Nygaard, Emory University

• Developmental Change in the Neural Response of Sound Symbolism - Presenting Author: Mutsumi Imai, Keio University At Sfc; Michiko Asano, Rikkyo University; Guillaume Thierry, Bangor University; Sotaro Kita, University of Warwick; Keiichi Kitajo, RIKEN BSI; Hiroyuki Okada, Tamagawa University