Feelings shape words

The question of the relationship of things and words already occupied Socrates: Is the relationship of words to the things they designate completely arbitrary? Or do words like "cuckoo" or "buzz" rather prove that language onomatopoeically imitates the world? While modern linguistics for decades saw the "cuckoo" rather as an exceptional case, the Kassel psychology professor Dr. Ralf Rummer has now presented a study that sheds surprising light on word coinage, so to speak in the delivery room of language: According to this, new words containing the vowel "i" are conspicuously often invented for positive things. New terms for negative things, on the other hand, more often contain the vowel "o."

Rummer and his co-author Judith Schweppe (University of Erfurt) conducted several experiments for the study: For example, they presented German-speaking subjects with photos in which people either looked happy or sad or angry, or else showed a neutral facial expression. The subjects then invented first names for the people shown - names that do not yet exist. As a result, the subjects assigned names with the letters "i" significantly more often to happy-looking people than to sad or angry ones; conversely, they chose names with one or more letters "o" more often for negative facial expressions. This effect occurred even when facial expression imitation was excluded.

Another experiment confirmed a relationship between the light "i" and positive connotations and the dark "o" and negative connotations: First, a native speaker read a Bible text in the East African language Swahili. Subsequently, German-speaking subjects assigned fantasy names to 30 objects or animals with positive or neutral or negative connotations - condition: The newly created words were to be phonetically similar to the Swahili just heard. Here, too, it was found that for objects generally associated with positive feelings - such as a dolphin or a shamrock - the "i" was heard more often, and for negative ones - such as a coffin or a spider - the "o" was heard more often.

In a control experiment, the authors ruled out the possibility that the subjects' German vocabulary had an influence on word creation in fantasy Swahili. A total of 336 subjects participated in the experimental series.

"In previous studies, we had already found that positively-minded people were more likely to use the 'i' when inventing fantasy words, and negatively-minded people were more likely to use the 'o,'" Rummer said. "Now we were able to show that the emotional properties of an object have a comparable influence on the invention of new words. Here, positively valent objects or people are preferentially given names containing 'i' and negatively valent objects or people are preferentially given names containing 'o'. Traces of this principle can still be found in the German vocabulary today. Now, for the first time, we have experimentally demonstrated this connection."

One explanation could lie in the facial musculature. When the sound "i" is articulated, a facial muscle is contracted that is also needed for smiling - something photographers also use when making the "Cheese!" call. The "o", on the other hand, engages the counterpart of this muscle and thus prevents the smile. In the course of individual and linguistic history, these sounds have therefore apparently become linked to positive or negative emotions.

Dr. Ralf Rummer has been Professor of General Psychology at the University of Kassel since March 2018. His research focuses on cognitive, linguistic, and memory psychology.

Ralf Rummer & Judith Schweppe (2018): Talking emotions: vowel selection in fictional names depends on the emotional valence of the to-be-named faces and objects, in Cognition and Emotion.
Link to article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324544902_Talking_emotions_vowel_selection_in_fictional_names_depends_on_the_emotional_valence_of_the_to-be-named_faces_and_objects

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Ralf Rummer
University of Kassel
Department of General Psychology
Tel.: 0561 804- 3592
E-mail: rummer[at]uni-kassel[dot]de