Quantitative and qualitative parameters of grasping movement constrained by phonological elements contained in onomatopoeia

Abstract

We investigated the effects of the phonological elements of onomatopoeia on the quantitative and qualitative parameters of the grasping movement. Each of four types of onomatopoeia was repeatedly presented 20 times to eight subjects. Two of them contained a voiced consonant sound /g/ and the vowel /u/. The remaining two contained a more complex phonological structure, in which the semivowel /j/ was added between the voiceless consonant /k/ and the vowel /u/. Two types of onomatopoeia having the phonological structure /g/u/ differed with respect to the duration of vowel production; this was also the case for the phonological structure /k/j/u/. The subjects were instructed to grasp a hand-held cylinder following the presentation of each type of onomatopoeia. The grasping force was recorded via a strain gauge embedded in the cylinder. A larger maximum force was observed for the phonological structure /g/u/, a longer load duration being observed when the duration of vowel production became longer. Although these two quantitative parameters of the grasping movement remained unchanged, qualitative parameters such as load (/unload) time ratio were amplified by repeating the grasping movement 20 times, particularly when the phonological structure /k/j/u/ was presented. We suggest that as a movement instruction, it would be useful to symbolize the quantitative value of the movement in the form of onomatopoeia and to emphasize the qualitative characteristics by repeatedly presenting the type of onomatopoeia that indicates the movement characteristic intended by the instructor.