1st$Conference$on$Pokémonastics$
Keio$U,$Mita$Campus$
5/26/2018$

General$questionsGeneral'commentary'
on'Pokémonastics

• How$can$Pokémonastics$avoid$ending$up$
with$a$mere$collection$of$case'studies?$• Which$aspects$of$sound'symbolism'research$
can$it$contribute$to?$$Kimi$Akita$
Nagoya&University

What$is$special$about$Pokémon$names?
“Some'virtues”'of'Pokémonastics' NonBPokémonastic'approaches'to'(adapted'from'Kawahara,'today)' sound'symbolism
Pokémon$provides$a$universe$with$ Basic$word$lists$(Jespersen$1922;$Ultan$
the$same$realKworld;$attributes$
1978;$Wichmann$et$al.$2010;$Johansson$
across'diﬀerent'languages.$&$Zlatev$2013;$Blasi$et$al.$2016)
The$universe$is$reasonably$large.



Each$attribute$has$size,$weight,$and$ Branding$(Klink$2000;$Yorkston$&$other$quantitative'parameters.
Menon$2004;$Coulter$&$Coulter$2010;$
Jurafsky$2015);$cf.$• Existing$words$(e.g.,$large):$not$so$
speciﬁc$(Starr$et$al.,$today)$• Personal$names$(e.g.,$Kimi):$determined$before$many$of$the$person’s$attributes$are$ﬁxed$

Outline1) Major$issues$in$sound$symbolism$&$Pokémonastics$
2) Comments$on$individual$papers$
3) Answers$from$the$speakers?

It$is$fun$(for$us,$and$for$students$&$ SS$research$in$general$is$fun!
for$children).$

Major$issues$in$sound$symbolism
(Nuckolls$1999;$Cuskley$&$Kirby$2013;$Akita$2015;$Lockwood$&$
Dingemanse$2015;$Sidhu$&$Pexman$2017;$Svantesson$2017)

A. Types$
B. Mechanisms$
C. Evolutionary$relevance$

1.'MAJOR'ISSUES'IN'SOUND'SYMBOLISM'&'POKÉMONASTICS

" Pokémonastics$may$
concern$all$of$these$issues.
(Lockwood$&$Dingemanse$2015:$9)

A.$Types$of$SS
i.

Universality'&'languageBspeciﬁcity'(Johansson$&$Zlatev$
2013;$Blasi$et$al.$2016;$Shinohara$&$Kawahara$2016)$
ii. Types'of'nonBarbitrariness'(Dingemanse$et$al.$2015,$etc.;$
see$also$Ahlner$&$Zlatev$2010;$Dingemanse$2018)$– meow&(absolute)$vs.$pɔmbɔlɔɔ/pumbuluu/pimbilii&‘protruding$(of$the$belly)’$(relative)$(Siwu;$Dingemanse$2011:$
172)&– glitter,$glance,$glow;$súrvey&(N)$vs.$survéy&(V)$(systematicity)&iii. Levels'of'generalization'(Akita$2015;$see$also$Kantartzis$
2011;$Kawahara$2012;$Saji$et$al.$2013)$– “Sound”:$frequency$>$phonetic$feature$>$phone$>$phoneme$>$mora$>$syllable$>$sound$pattern$– “Meaning”:$degree$>$size$>$size$of$a$table$" Pokémonastics$can$add$case$studies$addressing$these$
partly$statistical$issues.

i.

B.$Mechanisms$for$SS

Phonetic'motivations'(Hinton$et$al.$1994;$Shinohara$&$
Kawahara$2016,$etc.)$– Acoustic$(e.g.,$F2,$periodicity),$articulatory$(e.g.,$size$of$oral$cavity,$lip$rounding),$or$both$ii. Lexical'association'(Stefanowitsch$2002;$Shinohara$&$
Kawahara$2016)$– SS$=$soundKmeaning$correspondences$abstracted$from$the$lexicon?$(e.g.,$Kimi&#$X5mi,$bi&)$– Abundance$of$ideophones$iii. Innateness$(Peña$et$al.$2011;$Haryu$&$Kajikawa$2012;$
Miyazaki$et$al.$2013;$Ozturk$et$al.$2013;$Asano$et$al.$2015)$
iv. Neurological'deﬁnition'(Ramachandran$&$Hubbard$2001;$Spence$2011;$Bankieris$&$Simner$2015)$– SS$$synesthesia,$crossmodal$correspondences?$" Pokémon$names$—$involving$SS,$blending,$borrowing,$etc.$—$may$shed$new$light$on$how$lexical'knowledge'
shapes$or$interacts$with$our$soundKsymbolic$intuition.

Recap

C.$Evolutionary$relevance$of$SS
• SoundBsymbolic'origin'of'language'(Ramachandran$&$Hubbard$2001;$Gasser$2004;$Kita$2008;$Perniss$et$al.$2010;$Cabrera$2012;$
Cuskley$&$Kirby$2013;$Imai$&$Kita$2014;$Perniss$&$
Vigliocco$2014;$Haiman$2018;$$$Issue$B)$" Pokémonastics$—$an$onomastics$of$new$names$—$may$provide$a'miniature'history'of'human'
language,$illustrating$how$a$lexicon$originates$&$evolves$from$sound$symbolism.

• I$hope$Pokémonastics$will$contribute$to,$among$others$
A. Better$statistical'characterization'&'classiﬁcation'of$SS$
B. Better$understanding$of$where'SS'intuition'comes'from'C. Hot$debate$on$the'SS'origin'of'language'" All$fundamental,$longstanding$questions

Darya$Kavitskaya$
on$Russian1) WordBﬁnal'devoicing'–"“Out$of$[58$wordKﬁnal$voiced$obstruents],$[only?]$18$are$left$
voiced$by$one$or$both$kids.$Apparently,$this$is$enough$to$lose$
the$correlation$between$voicing$and$Weight$that$holds$for$
English.”$If$this$means$that$the$actual$phonetic$realization$is$the$key$to$weight$symbolism,$the$data$may$support$its$phonetic,$rather$
than$phonemic,$basis.$($'Issue'A:$levels$of$generalization)$2) Mid'V'

2.'COMMENTS'ON'INDIVIDUAL'
PAPERS
2$Qs$for$each–"

Unlike$English,$Russian$showed$a$correlation$b/w$mid$V$&$“Stats$Total”.$
Is$this$attributed$to$the'soundBsymbolic'system'of'the'Russian'lexicon?$(Priestly$1994)$($'Issue'B:$lexical$association)$3) Other'–

How$many$Russian$Pokémon$names$are$borrowings$from$English?$Rebecca$Starr$&$Alan$Yu$
on$Mandarin$&$Cantonese
1) Unexpected'correlations'(cf.$Ohala’s$FCH)$– Femaleness$of$low$tones$in$Cantonese$personal$names$– Strength$of$front$vowels$in$Mandarin$Pokémon$names$" $Systematicity,$rather$than$iconicity?$($'Issue'A:$types$of$
nonKarbitrariness)$

2) Mandarin'T4'&'Cantonese'T2'– “The$highKlow$fall$of$Mandarin$T4$is$iconic$of$largeness.$
This$is$the$tone$used$in$the$word$(‘big’)”$– “The$midKhigh$rise$of$Cantonese$T2$is$iconic$of$smallness.$
This$is$the$tone$used$in$(‘small’)”$" Sound$symbolism,$lexical'association,$or$both?$($'Issue'B:$lexical$association)$

Shigeto$Kawahara$on$Japanese$&$Brazilian$Portuguese
1) Vocalic'symbolism'– Japanese$kids:$$ $ $backness$– Brazilian$Portuguese:$ $height$" Does$this$diﬀerence$reﬂect$the'crosslinguistic'diﬀerence'of'soundBsymbolic'systems?$($'Issue'B:$lexical$
association;$Issue'A:$types$of$nonKarbitrariness?)$2) Japanese'kids$– Already$sensitive$to$sound$symbolism$" What$does$this$suggest$regarding$the'phylogeny'or'ontogeny'of'human'language?$($'Issue'C:$soundKsymbolic$origin$of$language)$3) Other'–

Why$did$you$exclude$“[n]ames$with$foreignKlooking$orthography”$from$the$data?$

References

Thank'you!
• akita$dot$kimi$atsign$nagoya$hyphen$u$dot$jp$• https://sites.google.com/site/akitambo/

• Cuskley,$Christine,$and$Simon$Kirby.$2013.$Synesthesia,$crossKmodality,$and$
language$evolution.$In$Julia$Simner$and$Edward$M.$Hubbard$(eds.),$The&Oxford&Handbook&of&Synesthesia,&869K899.$Oxford:$Oxford$University$Press.$• Dingemanse,$Mark.$2018.$Redrawing$the$margins$of$language:$Lessons$from$research$on$ideophones.$Glossa:&A&Journal&of&General&Linguistics&3(1):$4.$1K30.$• Dingemanse,$Mark,$Damián$E.$Blasi,$Gary$Lupyan,$Morten$H.$Christiansen,$and$
Padraic$Monaghan.$2015.$Arbitrariness,$iconicity,$and$systematicity$in$language.$
Trends&in&Cognitive&Sciences&19:$603K615.$• Gasser,$Michael.$2004.$The$origins$of$arbitrariness$in$language.$Proceedings&of&the&Cognitive&Science&Society&Conference,&434K439.$Hillsdale,$NJ:$Lawrence$
Erlbaum$Associates.$• Haiman,$John.$2018.$Ideophones&and&the&Evolution&of&Language.&Cambridge:$
Cambridge$University$Press.$• Haryu,$Etsuko,$and$Sachiyo$Kajikawa.$2012.$Are$higherKfrequency$sounds$brighter$
in$color$and$smaller$in$size?$AuditoryKvisual$correspondences$in$10KmonthKold$
infants.$Infant&Behavior&and&Development&35:$727K732.$• Hinton,$Leanne,$Johanna$Nichols,$and$John$J.$Ohala$(eds.).$1994.$Sound&Symbolism.&Cambridge:$Cambridge$University$Press.$• Imai,$Mutsumi,$and$Sotaro$Kita.$2014.$The$sound$symbolism$bootstrapping$
hypothesis$for$language$acquisition$and$language$evolution.$Philosophical&Transactions&of&the&Royal&Society&B&369:$20130298.$• Jespersen,$Otto.$1922.$Language:&Its&Nature,&Development&and&Origin.&London:$George$Allen$&$Unwin.$• Ahlner,$Felix,$and$Jordan$Zlatev.$2010.$CrossKmodal$iconicity:$A$cognitive$semiotic$
approach$to$sound$symbolism.$Sign&Systems&Studies&38(1/4):$298K348.$• Akita,$Kimi.$2015.$Sound$symbolism.$In$JanKOla$Östman$and$Jef$Verschueren$(eds.),$Handbook&of&Pragmatics,&Installment&2015.$Amsterdam/Philadelphia:$John$
Benjamins.$• Asano,$Michiko,$Mutsumi$Imai,$Sotaro$Kita,$Keiichi$Kitajo,$Hiroyuki$Okada,$and$
Guillaume$Thierry.$2015.$Sound$symbolism$scaﬀolds$language$development$in$
preverbal$infants.$Cortex&63:$196K205.$• Bankieris,$Kaitlyn,$and$Julia$Simner.$2015.$What$is$the$link$between$synaesthesia$
and$sound$symbolism?$Cognition&136:$186K195.$• Blasi,$Damián$E.,$Søren$Wichmann,$Harald$Hammarström,$Peter$F.$Stadler,$and$
Morten$H.$Christiansen.$2016.$SoundKmeaning$association$biases$evidenced$
across$thousands$of$languages.$PNAS&113:$10818K10823.$• Cabrera,$Juan$Carlos$Moreno.$2012.$The$role$of$sound$symbolism$in$
protolanguage:$Some$linguistic$and$archaeological$speculations.$Theoria&et&Historia&Scientiarum&9:$115K130.$• Coulter,$Keith$S.,$and$Robin$A.$Coulter.$2010.$Small$sounds,$big$deals:$Phonetic$
symbolism$eﬀects$in$Pricing.$Journal&of&Consumer&Research&37(2):$315K328.$• Johansson,$Niklas,$and$Jordan$Zlatev.$2013.$Motivations$for$sound$symbolism$in$
spatial$deixis:$A$typological$study$of$101$languages.$The&Public&Journal&of&Semiotics&5(1):$3K20.$• Jurafsky,$Daniel.$2015.$The&Language&of&Food:&A&Linguist&Reads&a&Menu.&New$York/
London:$W.$W.$Norton.$• Kantartzis,$Katerina.$2011.$Children&and&Adults’&Understanding&and&Use&of&Sound5
Symbolism&in&Novel&Words.$Ph.D.$dissertation,$University$of$Birmingham.$• Kawahara,$Shigeto.$2012.$Abrupt$amplitude$changes$imply$male$names:$A$case$of$
acousticKbased$sound$symbolism.$Paper$presented$at$PhonoFesta$7,$Shiga,$17$
February.$• Kita,$Sotaro.$2008.$WorldKview$of$protolanguage$speakers$as$inferred$from$semantics$of$soundKsymbolic$words:$A$case$of$Japanese$mimetics.$In$Nobuo$
Masataka$(ed.),$Origins&of&Language,&25K38.$Tokyo:$Springer.$• Klink,$Richard$R.$2000.$Creating$brand$names$with$meaning:$The$use$of$sound$symbolism.$Marketing&Letters&11(1):$5K20.$• Lockwood,$Gwilym,$and$Mark$Dingemanse.$2015.$Iconicity$in$the$lab:$A$review$of$
behavioural,$developmental,$and$neuroimaging$research$into$soundKsymbolism.$
Frontiers&in&Psychology&6:$1246.$• Miyazaki,$Michiko,$Shohei$Hidaka,$Mutsumi$Imai,$H.$Henny$Yeung,$Katerina$
Kantartzis,$Hiroyuki$Okada,$and$Sotaro$Kita.$2013.$The$facilitatory$role$of$sound$symbolism$in$infant$word$learning.$In$Proceedings&of&the&35th&Annual&Meeting&of&the&Cognitive&Science&Society,$3080K3085.$• Nuckolls,$Janis$B.$1999.$The$case$for$sound$symbolism.$Annual&Review&of&Anthropology&28:$225K252.$• Ozturk,$Ozge,$Madelaine$Krehm,$and$Athena$Vouloumanos.$2013.$Sound$symbolism$in$infancy:$Evidence$for$soundKshape$crossKmodal$correspondences$in$
4KmonthKolds.$Journal&of&Experimental&Child&Psychology&114:$173K186.$• Peña,$Marcela,$Jacques$Mehler,$and$Marina$Nespor.$2011.$The$role$of$audiovisual$processing$in$early$conceptual$development.$Psychological&Science&22(11):$1419K1421.$• Perniss,$Pamela,$Robin$L.$Thompson,$and$Gabriella$Vigliocco.$2010.$Iconicity$as$a$
general$property$of$language:$evidence$from$spoken$and$signed$languages.$
Frontiers&in&Psychology&1:$Article$227.$• Perniss,$Pamela,$and$Gabriella$Vigliocco.$2014.$The$bridge$of$iconicity:$From$a$world$of$experience$to$the$experience$of$language.$Philosophical&Transactions&of&
the&Royal&Society&B&369:$20130300.$• Priestly,$Tom$M.$S.$1994.$On$levels$of$analysis$of$sound$symbolism$in$poetry,$with$
an$application$to$Russian$poetry.$In$Leanne$Hinton,$Johanna$Nichols,$and$John$J.$
Ohala$(eds.),$Sound&Symbolism,&237K248.$Cambridge:$Cambridge$University$Press.$• Ramachandran,$V.$S.,$and$E.$M.$Hubbard.$2001.$Synaesthesia:$A$window$into$
perception,$thought,$and$language.$Journal&of&Consciousness&Studies&8:$3K34.$• Saji,$Noburo,$Kimi$Akita,$Mutsumi$Imai,$Katerina$Kantartzis,$and$Sotaro$Kita.$
2013.$CrossKlinguistically$shared$and$languageKspeciﬁc$sound$symbolism$for$
motion:$An$exploratory$data$mining$approach.$Proceedings&of&the&35th&Annual&Meeting&of&Cognitive&Science&Society,&1253K1258.$• Shinohara,$Kazuko,$and$Shigeto$Kawahara.$2016.$A$crossKlinguistic$study$of$sound$symbolism:$The$image$of$size.$In$Proceedings&of&the&Thirty5Sixth&Annual&Meeting&of&the&Berkeley&Linguistics&Society,&396K410.$• Sidhu,$David$M.,$and$Penny$M.$Pexman.$2017.$Five$mechanisms$of$sound$symbolic$association.$Psychonomic&Bulletin&&&Review.
• Spence,$Charles.$2011.$Crossmodal$correspondences:$A$tutorial$review.$Attention,&Perception,&&&Psychophysics&73:$971K995.$• Stefanowitsch,$Anatol.$2002.$Sound$symbolism$in$a$usageKdriven$model.$Ms.,$
Rice$University.$$• Svantesson,$JanKOlof.$2017.$Sound$symbolism:$The$role$of$word$sound$in$
meaning.$WIREs&Cogn&Sci&2017:$e01441.$• Ultan,$Russell.$1978.$SizeKsound$symbolism.$In$Joseph$Greenberg,$Charles$A.$
Ferguson,$and$Edith$A.$Moravcsik$(eds.),$Universals&of&Human&Language,&Volume&2&Z&Phonology,&527K568.$Stanford:$Stanford$University$Press.$• Wichmann,$Søren,$Eric$W.$Homan,$and$Cecil$H.$Brown.$2010.$Sound$symbolism$in$
basic$vocabulary.$Entropy&12:$844K858.$• Yorkston,$Eric,$and$Geeta$Menon.$2004.$A$sound$idea:$Phonetic$eﬀects$of$brand$
names$on$consumer$judgments.$Journal&of&Consumer&Research&31:$43K51.