唇音は通言語的に柔らかいイメージと可愛いイメージを喚起するのか―中国語話者と韓国語話者への実験―

抄録

The purpose of this study is to report on an experiment that examined whether labial consonants evoked images of softness and cuteness in Chinese and Korean and to discuss cross-linguistic similarities and differences in sound-symbolic associations. The main findings of the study were: 1) not all labial consonants were associated with such images in Chinese and Korean; 2) the labial consonants judged appropriate for a ‘soft’ image were always judged appropriate for a ‘cute’ image in both Chinese and Korean as well as in Japanese; and 3) the bilabial sonorant [m] evoked images of softness and cuteness in Chinese and Korean as well as in Japanese and English.