The common score is step 1.478 regarding plosive position, 1.45 about fricative status, step 1.707 regarding the nose status, and you will step one.942 about water reputation. A decreased point during the Table 3 summarises the results from modelling from Place 3. The fresh standard was the fresh new fricative status, and now we opposed the newest plosive versus. fricative standards, the fresh new nose against. fricative requirements, while the drinking water vs. fricative conditions. Basic, the essential difference between the plosive and you can fricative standards was not legitimate, while the 95% CI of this coefficient guess integrated no [?0.06, 0.09]. Next, the fresh nasal versus. fricative and h2o compared to. fricative comparisons showed that both of brand new coefficient rates had been confident (? = 0.16) (nasal) and you can (? = 0.3) (liquid) and you will each of new 95% CIs did not become zero ([0.09, 0.24] (nasal) and you will [0.23, 0.38] (liquid)), and therefore recommending you to nonce terms which have nasals and you can liquid was in fact evaluated becoming a lot more kawaii labels than others that have fricatives.
Conversation
The current study showed that (1) labial consonants are more likely to end up being with the kawaii than simply coronal and you can dorsal consonants, (2) high-frequency consonants are more likely to become associated with kawaii than just low-volume consonants, and you will (3) liquid /?/ and you can nose /n/ may feel in the kawaii than just fricative /z/ (and you may plosive /d/). Such efficiency suggest that the place-of-articulation function regarding the kawaii is actually [labial], plus the regularity feature associated with the kawaii are [high-frequency]. The manner-of-articulation element needs then talk. Due to the fact consonant exhibiting the best average get try water /?/, we are able to assume that the trends-of-articulation feature for the kawaii is [liquid]. not, as Bayesian investigation presented, nose /n/ is much more apt to be of kawaii than fricative /z/. For this reason, we could ending that water and you can nasals, each of which can be [sonorant], try with the kawaii.
General discussion
This study showed that the features of consonants associated with kawaii in Japanese are [labial], [high frequency], and [sonorant]. The motivations for the three features are briefly discussed below. The feature [labial] may be linked to a pouting gesture, that is, a gesture made using both lips can induce Japanese people to feel kawaii (Kumagai, 2020). The feature [labial] may also be linked to the image of babies, in that bilabial consonants are more frequent in the earlier phases of language acquisition (Kumagai and Kawahara, 2020). Thus, it can be said that consonants with feature [labial] can evoke the image of babies, at least in Japanese. The feature [high frequency] may stem from shortness, as the frequency code hypothesis states that high-frequency sounds are associated with smallness (Ohala, 1984, 1994). The feature [sonorant] may be connected to a number of observations on sound symbolic effects in names and shapes. Sonorants are better suited for female names or rounded shapes (Shinohara and Kawahara, 2013; Asano et al., 2015). To summarise, the factors associated with kawaii may include pouting gesture, babyishness, smallness, femininity, and roundness. It is interesting that some of these factors overlap with the factors noted by Kinsella (1995) for cute characters. She noted that ‘The essential anatomy of a cute cartoon character consists in its being small, soft, infantile, mammalian, round, without bodily appendages (e.g., arms), without bodily orifices (e.g., mouths), non-sexual, mute, insecure, helpless or bewildered’. (p. 226; emphasis mine). Taking the fact into consideration that Kinsella (1995) was published more than 25 years ago, it is inferred that something that evokes kawaii in the minds of Japanese speakers has not changed for at least 25 years.
As noted in the introduction section, it is well known that sound symbolism plays an important role in ; Klink and https://kissbrides.com/sv/heta-venezuelanska-kvinnor/ Wu, 2014). The exploration of what consonants are better suited for kawaii names is an interesting topic. Based on the above discussion, it is inferred that the consonants that induce the feeling of kawaii among Japanese people include /p/, /?/, and /m/, as the first consonant /p/ is specified with [labial] and [high frequency], the second consonant /?/ with [sonorant], and the third consonant /m/ with [labial] and [sonorant]. Based on his kawaii judgment experiment with Japanese speakers, Kumagai (2019) discusses whether /m/, in addition to /p/, is another consonant expressive of kawaii in Japanese, since his study results demonstrated that fewest differences existed regarding average scores between nonce words with /p/ and those with /m/. In Japanese words or character names that seem to be associated with kawaii, we find examples that contain /p/, /?/, or /m/. For example, a mimetic word, or onomatopoeia, purupuru, is used to express something soft or something that trembles like jelly. We also find a cute character name pomupomu purin ‘Pom Pom Purin’, created by Sanrio. Moreover, Kawahara (2019) reported that bilabial consonants and /?/ are often used in girls’ names in a popular Japanese anime PreCure, broadcast since 2004. It is expected that these consonants will prove applicable in naming anime characters or products that are characterised by kawaii.
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