81–90 of 98 posts
It is always possible to create completely arbitrary words, but long term the ones that survive are the ones that fit in the language current state and evolution.
The star-shaped object would make a "spiky" sound, the bubble-like object more of a bump-like sound. That explains the attribution of the words kiki and bouba to the objects in different cultures. My explanation.
"kiki" has lots of high frequencies: the i and the click sound of the k. Sharp corners also have lots of high "frequencies", but in the 2d domain.
There's an equivalent symmetry, except with low frequencies, with "bouba" and the rounded shape.
I feel like this can't be a coincidence
There's an interesting symmetry between the image and sound frequencies "kiki" has lots of high frequencies: the i and the click sound of the k. Sharp corners also have lots of high "frequencies", but in the 2d domain. There's an equivalent symmetry, except with low frequencies, with "bouba" and the rounded shape. I feel like this can't be a coincidence
This is how I remember numbers, spelling, and names sometimes. A sequence of numbers has a nice plot / wave to it. I can't say my mapping from these categories to shapes generalizes for anyone else and it hasn't made me particularly good at memory competitions. It's just how it works. Also, memorizing a couple of credit card's information has saved me so much time -- highly recommended.
I have also heard that this same technique might be the basis for at least some myths and other sacred stories, wherein a myth arises as a mnemonic for something important like an agricultural cycle or migration path.
If anyone knows names of researchers in this area or books on the topic I would be very interested to follow up on it.
Simply imagine what sound a 3D-object of the shape as in the WP-article would make. The star-shaped object would make a "spiky" sound, the bubble-like object more of a bump-like sound. That explains the attribution of the words kiki and bouba to the objects in different cultures. My explanation.
Simply imagine what sound a 3D-object of the shape as in the WP-article would make. The star-shaped object would make a "spiky" sound, the bubble-like object more of a bump-like sound. That explains the attribution of the words kiki and bouba to the objects in different cultures. My explanation.
For example, Python has a rounded or smoother shape, whereas C-style languages are more kiki-like (with JavaScript being the spikiest); Haskell, IIRC, had a squarish lump kind of appearance. I originally wrote myself off, thinking that maybe the shapes very loosely correspond to how the code looks in each language "from a distance", but I was never really satisfied with that.
Many years ago, I wrote a blog -- no longer online, I'm afraid -- about how I associated different programming languages with different shapes. I've never heard of this effect before today, but it visualises almost perfectly what I was trying to express all those years ago. (I originally posited that it was some form of synaesthesia.) For example, Python has a rounded or smoother shape, whereas C-style languages are…
Simply imagine what sound a 3D-object of the shape as in the WP-article would make. The star-shaped object would make a "spiky" sound, the bubble-like object more of a bump-like sound. That explains the attribution of the words kiki and bouba to the objects in different cultures. My explanation.
Make a sound how? When dropping the 3d object onto the ground? Or when making it resonate at its natural frequency, or something else?