Contour 3 represents the container plots having Place step three
An average score is actually step 1.478 from the plosive status, step one.forty five about fricative position, step one.707 on nasal updates, and step 1.942 regarding the h2o status. A decreased section into the Table step three summarises the outcome off model out-of Lay 3. The newest baseline are the fricative condition, so we compared the newest plosive against. fricative conditions, the newest nose compared to. fricative standards, additionally the h2o versus. fricative standards. Basic, the difference between the fresh new plosive and you may fricative standards was not reputable, because the 95% CI for the coefficient imagine included zero [?0.06, 0.09]. Second, new nose versus. fricative and you can water versus. fricative reviews indicated that each of this new coefficient quotes have been confident (? = 0.16) (nasal) and you will (? = 0.3) (liquid) and you can each of the latest 95% CIs don’t become no ([0.09, 0.24] (nasal) and you can [0.23, 0.38] (liquid)), and thus indicating you to definitely nonce terminology having nasals and h2o were judged are far more kawaii names than others with fricatives.
Conversation
The modern analysis indicated that (1) labial consonants are more likely to getting associated with the kawaii than just coronal and you hur man använder positive singles may dorsal consonants, (2) high-frequency consonants are more likely to getting of this kawaii than just low-volume consonants, and you may (3) liquids /?/ and you will nasal /n/ are more likely to getting of the kawaii than fricative /z/ (and you will plosive /d/). These performance recommend that the place-of-articulation function with the kawaii was [labial], plus the regularity ability for the kawaii is actually [high-frequency]. The manner-of-articulation element need after that talk. While the consonant proving the greatest mediocre rating is drinking water /?/, we are able to think your styles-of-articulation element in the kawaii is [liquid]. But not, because the Bayesian study displayed, nasal /n/ is more probably be on the kawaii than just fricative /z/. For this reason, we can ending you to h2o and you may nasals, each of being [sonorant], try of kawaii.
Standard talk
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 smallness, 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 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.
