Observations and results
Did all of your volunteers identify the round shape as Bouba and the pointy shape as Kiki, even though they were not told what the words mean? Did you record no incorrect answers?
You most likely found that every volunteer you tested gave only correct answers, or almost entirely correct answers. In other words, the volunteers always, or nearly always, identified each round shape as Bouba and each pointy shape as Kiki. People who have different native languages make this association, as do even very young children most of the time. What does this mean? Is this evidence of a human predisposition to associating certain sounds with abstract concepts? This could indicate that humans did indeed apply the first sounds made in burgeoning languages to certain concepts or symbols, and that the associations with sounds in different languages are not actually random. One theory is that Bouba is associated with the round shape because a more rounded shape is made by our mouths when forming this sound whereas our mouths make a more angular shape when we say "Kiki." Additionally, "K" is a harder-sounding letter than "B." Those who use the modern Latin alphabet (including English speakers) may also be visually swayed: the written letters "K" and "B" are sharp and rounded, respectively.
More to explore
Jaron's World: The Meaning of Metaphor from Discover Magazine
Kiki Bouba: Play the Game from The Fat Duck, Ltd.
The shape of boubas: Sound–shape correspondences in toddlers and adults (pdf) from Daphne Maurer, Thanujeni Pathman, and Catherine J. Mondloch, Developmental Science
The Bouba–Kiki Effect from Science Buddies
This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies
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2 Comments
Add CommentI suspect this has more to do with evolutionary survival than words. Spiky things are often dangerous: thorns, teeth, stings, spears, arrows etc. Generally alarm calls have a higer frequency, resulting in shriek (theres an onomatopeic example) sounds with lots of "eee" in it, with the volume and frequency carrying some quantitative information about the severity of the hazard. Therefore the sounds we would use to describe spiky things would sound more shrill and alarming. I doubt this is learned, but hard-wired by natural selection. I suspect the link in the brain would be:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1. determine extent of hazard of shape.
2. Determine sound which would communicate hazard.
3. Communicate hazard with shrill sound.
Less hazardous things will therefore be communitcated in the opposite way with sounds of lower frequency. Round things are often less hazardous: Apples, sponges, balls etc. I reckon we call spiky shapes KiKi because natural selection which has resulted in greater success of individuals who could communicate potential hazards effectively.
Your hypothesis would be quite easy to disprove, if false. As suggested in the article, just check if the same phenomenon occurs in other countries, for different languages (as for me, in Italy, I would have made the same association). If indeed the kiki/bouba effect is an evolutionary adaptation connected to sound frequency and danger, it should be independent by spoken language. If, on the contrary, results point to language correlation, then it cannot be. Many languages simply make larger use of specific consonants or vowels at the expense of others. So I guess there are languages for which the bouba-kiki effect doesn't appear, or it appears in such a different form to invalidate your hypotesis. It's only a guess, anyway.
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