1. Pilar Mompeán-Guillamón
Luca Nobile
Universidad Castilla-La Mancha
Dept of Modern Languages
Université de Bourgogne
EA 4178 CPTC – Grelisc
Phonemes as Images
An Experimental Enquiry into Visual Synaesthetic Sound Symbolism
Applied to the Distinctive Features of French
Rikkyo University, Tokyo
Iconicity : East meets West
9th International Symposium on Iconicity in Language and Literature
3-5 May, 2013

2. Intro
0.1 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/
{rounded} : {angular} = /maluma/ : /takete/
90/100%
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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3. Outline
Phonemes as images
An Experimental Enquiry into Visual Synaesthetic Sound Symbolism
Applied to the Distinctive Features of French
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.
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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4. 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 malumatakete?
– Articulatory analysis
– Acoustic analysis
/maluma/
:
/takete/
/m/ [+/-] : /t/ [+/-]
/l/ [+/-] : /k/ [+/-]
/u/ [+/-] : /e/ [+/-]
/a/ [+/-] : /e/ [+/-]
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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5. 1.1 Articulatory analysis
•
/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]
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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6. 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]
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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7. 1.3 Summary of the analysis of the features
/maluma/
/takete/
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
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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8. 2.0 Second questioning
•
Do these phono-articulatory
features operate in a collective
manner or can we distinguish
– Their relative importance
{OBTUSE : ACUTE}
[VOICED : VOICELESS]
/gavada/ : /kafata/
/vadaga/ : /fataca/
{CURVILINEAR : ANGULAR}
– Their specific values
in reference to the graphicvisual features of the figures?
•
•
[CONTINUOUS : EXPLOSIVE]
/suʒaf/ : /tugap/
/suʒav/ : /tukab/
To answer this question, we
have elaborated two new
experiments.
{CONTINUOUS : DISCONTINUOUS}
[DENTAL : VELAR]
/dotus/ : /gokuʃ/
/datis/ : /gakiʃ/
{REGULAR : IRREGULAR}
They aim to isolate:
– The graphic features of the
figures
[NASAL : ORAL]
{DENSE : SPARSE}
/nimuɲ/ : /zivuʒ/
/meɲan/ : /veʒaz/
– The phonological features
of the words
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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9. 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/
2. /nilu/
3. /gavada/
4. /dugo/
5. /meli/
:
:
:
:
:
/takete/
/kitu/
/kafata/
/degi/
/toku/
97.1%
95.0%
92.6%
84.6%
80.9%
NOTE
•
Relevance of the consonant feature
of voicing
•
Relative weakness of the vocalic
oppositions
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images
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10. 2.2 Second experiment 1/3
•
•
Isolation of the graphic features of
acuteness and continuity and their
parallelism (N=45)
%
/maluma/:
/gavada/:
/suʒaf/ :
/nimuɲ/ :
/gokuʃ/ :
/takete/
/kafata/
/tugap/
/zivuʒ/
/dotus/
88.8
82.2
68.8
80.0
44.4
(11.1)
6. /buba/ :
• Relevance of the accumulation of
7. /vadaga/:
features (1 et 6)
8. /suʃav/ :
• Relevance of voicing (2 et 7)
9. /meɲan/ :
• Relevance of manner & nasality (3,4,8,9) 10./gakiʃ/ :
/kiki/
/fataca/
/tukab/
/veʒaz/
/datis/
82.2
75.5
68.8
64.4
44.4
(15.5)
{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
• Weak or none: place (5,10)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
(vs)
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images 10
(17.7)
(24.4)
(17.7)
(28.8)
(20.0)
(24.4)
(28.8)
(42.2)

11. 2.3 Second experiment 2/3
•
•
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]
%
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
(vs)
/maluma/:
/gavada/:
/suʒaf/ :
/nimuɲ/ :
/dotus/ :
/takete/
/kafata/
/tugap/
/zivuʒ/
/gokuʃ/
100.0 (0)
91.3 (8.6)
76.8 (18.8)
60.8 (28.9)
57.9 (30.4)
6. /buba/ :
7. /vadaga/:
8. /suʃav/ :
9. /meɲan/ :
10./datis/ :
/kiki/
/fataca/
/tukab/
/veʒaz/
/gakiʃ/
46.3
55.0
49.2
46.3
60.8
NOTE
• Curvature correlates particularly with
voicing, manner and nasality (2, 3, 4)
• Regularity correlates particularly with
place, scarcely significant elsewhere
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images 11
(46.3)
(40.5)
(47.8)
(46.3)
(33.3)

12. 2.4 Second experiment 3/3
•
•
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
%
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
(vs)
/maluma/:
/gavada/:
/suʒaf/ :
/nimuɲ/ :
/gokuʃ/ :
/takete/
/kafata/
/tugap/
/zivuʒ/
/dotus/
84.6
91.6
57.6
57.6
50.0
(3.8)
6. /buba/ :
7. /fataca/:
8. /tukab/ :
9. /meɲan/ :
10./gakiʃ/ :
/kiki/
/vadaga/
/suʃav/
/veʒaz/
/datis/
53.8
53.8
50.0
65.3
61.5
(42.3)
– place of articulation
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images 12
(3.8)
(30.7)
(34.6)
(38.4)
(42.3)
(38.4)
(30.7)
(34.6)

13. 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.
[voiced]
[fricative]
[nasal]
[alveodental]
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images 13
[voiceless]
[plosive]
[oral]
[palatovelar]

14. 3.2 Discussion of results
•
•
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 phonoarticulatory features of intensity
such as [continuous : explosive].
[grave]
[nasal]
[voiced]
[fricative]
[continuous]
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images 14
[acute]
[oral]
[voiceless]
[plosive]
[explosive]

15. 3.3 Discussion of results
•
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].
[alveodental]
[palatovelar]
/s/
/ʃ/
[acute]
[defined]
6 kHz
L. Nobile and P. Mompeán-Guillamón Phonemes as images 15
[grave]
[undefined]
6 kHz

16. 1.15 Conclusion 2/2
Thak you!
luca.nobile@u-bourgogne.fr
www.lucanobile.eu
pilar.mompean@uclm.es>