» Articles » PMID: 31368761

Does the Name Say It All? Investigating Phoneme-personality Sound Symbolism in First Names

Overview
Specialty Psychology
Date 2019 Aug 2
PMID 31368761
Citations 4
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

Sound symbolism has typically been demonstrated as an association between certain phonemes and perceptual dimensions (e.g., size or shape). For instance, the is the sound symbolic association between sonorant and voiceless stop phonemes and round and sharp visual shapes, respectively. Here we explored a novel association between phonemes and a more abstract dimension: personality. Further, although sound symbolism has often been examined using nonwords, here we studied it in the context of existing first names. In Experiments 1 and 2, we presented first names containing sonorant versus voiceless stop consonants and found that participants associated these with different personality factors from the HEXACO model of personality. In general, names with sonorant phonemes (e.g., ) were associated with high Emotionality, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, whereas names with voiceless stop phonemes (e.g., ) were associated with high Extraversion. In Experiment 3, we examined whether the associations of a person's name predict their personality. A sample of 1,071 individuals provided their names and completed a HEXACO personality inventory. We found no real-world evidence of the associations we observed in the lab. In Experiment 4, we used invented names and tested participants in the lab once again, finding evidence of the same associations as in Experiment 1 and 2. This suggests that phonemes, and not just existing knowledge of individuals with particular names, are key to the associations observed. Finally, in Experiment 5, we found that these effects are not mediated by likability. We discuss potential mechanisms for the observed associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Citing Articles

Sound-meaning associations allow listeners to infer the meaning of foreign language words.

Hayakawa S, Marian V Commun Psychol. 2023; 1.

PMID: 38152075 PMC: 10751683. DOI: 10.1038/s44271-023-00030-z.


A cross-linguistic, sound symbolic relationship between labial consonants, voiced plosives, and Pokémon friendship.

Kilpatrick A, Cwiek A, Lewis E, Kawahara S Front Psychol. 2023; 14:1113143.

PMID: 36910799 PMC: 10000297. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1113143.


Is a boat bigger than a ship? Null results in the investigation of vowel sound symbolism on size judgements in real language.

Sidhu D, Pexman P Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2022; 76(1):28-43.

PMID: 35045778 PMC: 9773152. DOI: 10.1177/17470218221078299.


Is un stylo sharper than une épée? Investigating the interaction of sound symbolism and grammatical gender in English and French speakers.

Sidhu D, Pexman P, Saint-Aubin J PLoS One. 2019; 14(12):e0225623.

PMID: 31825960 PMC: 6905519. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225623.