Sound symbolic effects in
Mandarin and Cantonese
personal names andPokémon names
Rebecca L. Starr
National University of Singapore, rstarr@nus.edu.sg

Alan C. L. Yu
University of Chicago, aclyu@uchicago.edu
Stephanie S. Shih
University of Southern California, shihs@usc.edu
26 May, 2018, Keio University

Outlinelanguage• Chinese personal names

 Gender and sound symbolism• Chinese Pokémon names

 Sound symbolism, comparing old and newnames

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Sound symbolism and meaning in2• Saussure (1916) famously argued for an

arbitrary relationship between signifierand signified in language.
ヒトカゲ

파이리

Charmander

小火龙

Salamèche

ฮิโตคาเงะ

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Connection between linguisticfeatures and meaning3

What about social meaning?
approach to the relationship between
language and social meaning.
• Linguistic features are argued to index theperceived traits of social groups with which
they are associated (Eckert 2008).
• This link is argued to be ideologicallyconstructed and culturally-specific, rather
than innate or universal (Bucholtz & Hall2016).

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Sociolinguists have adopted a similar

4

Example:
Postvocalic rhoticity in English/ɹ/ in environments like park.
• In the US, postvocalic rhoticity is
considered standard and educatedsounding, while deleting the /ɹ/ isconsidered a non-standard, regional
pronunciation.
• In the UK, the reverse is true.
• In other words, the social meaning of
postvocalic rhoticity is arbitrary, andconstructed within a particular community.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Postvocalic rhoticity refers to realizing the5The indexical field (Eckert 2008)
range of possible stances, qualities, andsocial types, known as the indexicalfield.
• Ex: English /t/ release: Educated Prissy
 Formal Emphatic
 and so on…

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• A single feature generally indexes a6Sound symbolism
language, certain features of language haveinherent properties that allow for easierconnections to particular meanings.
• Non-arbitrary connections in the domain ofphonology are referred to as soundsymbolism.
• One notable proposed example is thefrequency code (Ohala 1994):
 High pitch: small, female, nondominant Low pitch: large, male, dominantStarr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Although social meaning is not inherent to7

Why do these links occur?
phenomena in language remain controversial.
• Some argue that these connections are pre-linguistic and innate, as these effects areobservable in infants (e.g., Ozturk et al. 2011).
• Our perception of phonetic properties (e.g.,

lip-rounding) may inherently cross-modally
activate certain concepts, (e.g., ‘round’)(Ramachandran & Hubbard 2001).

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• The mechanisms underlying sound symbolic8• US English speakers more likely to selectthe spiky shape when given a nonce word
containing voiceless consonants, alveolar
consonants, or front vowels.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Example:Bouba-kiki effect (D’Onofrio 2014)9

Biological or ideological?
meanings in language may be accounted
for by sound symbolism.
• In this talk, we will assume that certain

features are more likely to become
linked to meanings of smallness,
femaleness, etc.
• But these features may also develop

other indexical links that are culturallyspecific.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Obviously, not all social or semantic

10

Sound symbolism andpersonal names
frequency code have been found in
corpora of personal names.
 e.g., In English, female names are more likely
to contain front and high vowels (Whissell
2001).

Mia [miə]Ava [ɛɪvə]Isabella [ɪzəbɛlə]Noah [noʊə]
Logan [loʊgən]
Carter[kɑɹɾəɹ]Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Gendered effects consistent with the11Sound symbolism andpersonal names
names are not straightforwardly soundsymbolic.
• For example, English female names are

longer on average than male names (Whissell
2001).
 Underscores how linguistic features may come to
be interpreted as iconic of a range of social
meanings, via ideological processes.
Longer → more elaborate → feminine
Shorter → stronger → masculine

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• However, certain aspects of gendered12Does sound symbolism occur invarieties of Chinese?
each character corresponds to one morphemeand one prosodic syllable:

小

火

龙

xiǎo
huǒ
lóng
[ɕiau˧˩˧] [xuo˧˩˧] [loŋ˧˥]
littlefire dragon• Unlike in Japanese, there is only one

phonological form associated with eachcharacter (with a few exceptions).

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• In the Chinese character-based writing system,

13

Does sound symbolism occur invarieties of Chinese?
languages, a change in phonological form
generally necessitates a change insemantic material:

小 火 龙

小 火 狼

xiǎo huǒ lóngxiǎo huǒ láng

[ɕiau˧˩˧]][xuo˧˩˧][loŋ˧˥][ɕiau˧˩˧]][xuo˧˩˧][laŋ˧˥]

little fire dragon

little fire wolf??!

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Thus, unlike in alphabetic/syllabic

14

Does sound symbolism occur invarieties of Chinese?
potential constraint on phonologicalflexibility in Chinese varieties that does
not occur in other languages.
• Let’s keep that in mind when we examine

sound symbolism in two domains:
 Chinese personal names
 Chinese Pokémon names

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• This phenomenon places an interesting15

Traditional structure of Chinese
personal names

余梓麟
Yùh Jí Lèuhn[jy:˨˩ tsi˧˥ lɵn˨˩] (Cantonese)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Traditional three-character structure:16

Traditional structure of Chinese
personal names
Surname余梓麟
Yùh Jí Lèuhn[jy:˨˩ tsi˧˥ lɵn˨˩] (Cantonese)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Traditional three-character structure:17

Traditional structure of Chinese
personal names
SurnameGiven name余梓麟Yùh Jí Lèuhn[jy:˨˩ tsi˧˥ lɵn˨˩] (Cantonese)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Traditional three-character structure:18

Traditional structure of Chinese
personal names
SurnameGeneration

余梓麟

IndividualYùh Jí Lèuhn[jy:˨˩ tsi˧˥ lɵn˨˩] (Cantonese)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Traditional three-character structure:

19

Recent developments in
Chinese personal names
traditionally used only in nicknames,
has become more common in given
names.

李 星 星
Lǐ Xīng Xīng[li˧˩˧ ɕiŋ˥ ɕiŋ˥] (Mandarin)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• In Mainland China, reduplication,

20

Recent developments in
Chinese personal names
become more common in Mainland
China (Lu & Millward 1989):巩俐Gǒng Lì
[koŋ˧˩˧ li˥˩] (Mandarin)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Single-character given names have also21

Gender ambiguity in Chinese
personal names
ambiguity.
• Native speakers only have 65%-83%

accuracy in guessing the gender of written
Chinese names (Brown & Lonsdale 2006).
• Compared to over 98% for US English

names.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Chinese names have relatively high gender22How are Chinese names
selected?
feng shui expert in selecting a baby name iscommon.
 Selection primarily based on character stroke
counts and semantic content, not on
phonological features.
• This practice is not as pervasive in Mainland

China and Taiwan.
• What impact does this have on soundsymbolic patterns in personal names?

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• In Hong Kong, the use of a fortune teller or23• Can we identify sound symbolic effects

that predict name gender in: Mandarin (Mainland China and Taiwan)
 Cantonese (Hong Kong)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Research question:
Gender and Chinese personal
names

24

• Data drawn from corpus collected for thedevelopment of mingzitool.com, an online
tool that guesses the characters, regional
origin, and gender corresponding to a
Romanized Chinese name.
• Total of 100,423 full names.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Methodology: Corpus25• Mainland China and TW names collectedfrom online university rosters, exam results
postings, etc.
 Collected from a variety of regions.
• Hong Kong corpus collected from HK gov’t

employee online directory.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Methodology: Corpus26• Sub-corpus of 36,729 name tokens for which: Gender of token is known Exactly one possible phonological form can be
identified in Mandarin and Cantonese.
RegionNMC11,206

TW
HK

3,895
21,628Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Methodology: Corpus

27

Methodology: Factors examined• Structure:• Vowels: Height (mi vs. ma)
 Frontness (mi vs. mu)• Consonants:

 Short-lag VOT obstruent (bao vs. pao) Labial (bao, pao, mao, wei, fei)
 Palatal, retroflex initials (ji/qi/xi vs. zhi/chi/shi) (Mandarin)
 Final stop (yat) (Cantonese)• Tones: Tone identity
 Tone height Rising tone, checked tone (Cantonese)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

 Reduplication (same character doubled) Syllable count (one-syll or two-syll name)28Findings: trends% gender ambiguity in given names
30%% of total

25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Mainland China
femaleTaiwanmale

Hong Kong

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

35%

29

Findings: trends% reduplication in given names% of total

20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Mainland China
femaleTaiwanmale

Hong Kong

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

25%

30

Findings: trends% of two-character given names% of total

80%
60%
40%

20%
0%
Mainland China
femaleTaiwanmale

Hong Kong

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

100%

31

Interim summary:Ambiguity and structurethat are less ‘traditional’.
 More gender ambiguity
 More reduplication
 More one-character names• Reduplication more common infemale names in all three regions.
• One-character names morecommon for men in MC only.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• As predicted, MC features names

32

Findings: trends% of given names with all high vowels% of total

25%

20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Mainland China

Taiwanfemalemale

Hong Kong (Cant.)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

30%

33

Findings: trends
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Mainland China

Taiwanfemalemale

Hong Kong (Cant.)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University% of total% of given names with all front vowels

34

Interim summary:Vowel quality
female names consistently more
likely to use high and front vowels,
across regions.
• Reminder: frequency code, iconic of‘smallness’.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• As found in US English names data,

35

Findings: trends% of given names containing
short-lag obstruent onset
Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

60%% of total

50%

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Mainland China

Taiwanfemalemale

Hong Kong (Cant.)

36

Findings: trends% containing
retroflex initial

45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Mainland China
femalemale

TaiwanMainland China

TaiwanStarr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University% of total% containing
palatal initial37

Findings: trends

60%% of total

50%

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Mainland China

Taiwanfemalemale

Hong Kong (Cant.)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University% of given names containing
final velar nasal /ŋ/38

Interim summary:
Consonants
initials:

 Palatals (high freq.) more common infemale names.
 Retroflex (low freq.) more common in malenames.

• And for finals:

 Velar nasals more common in male names.

• Voiced obstruent initials (a ‘strong’sound) more common in male names.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Frequency code also observed for

39

Findings: trends
60%% of total

50%
40%

30%
20%
10%
0%
Mainland China
femaleTaiwanmale

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University% of given names containing
Mand. Tone 4 (high-to-low falling)40

% of given names containing
Cantonese low tones (low level
and low falling)100%% of total

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Hong Kong (Cant.)
femalemale

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Findings: trends

41Interim summary:
Lexical tones
frequency code is more tenuous.
 Low tones more common for female names in
Cantonese.
• The association of Mandarin T4 with malenames may be seen as a sound symbolic
effect.
 Note that this same pattern isn’t found in the
Mandarin pronunciations of HK names – thetrend is exclusive to those names selected in
Mandarin-speaking regions.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• The relationship between tones and the42

Statistical analysis
modeling using the lme4 package inR.
• Name incorporated as random

factor.
• Note that some features are highly

collinear (e.g., retroflex initial andvowel frontness), cannot be
incorporated into a single model.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Generalized linear mixed-effects

43

Fixed effect

Est.

Std. Errorzp(Intercept)

8.47930.188844.91<.0001 ***Reduplication-18.7190 0.7433-25.19<.0001 ***Front vowel-0.6075

2.59

0.00964 **High vowel-16.4602 0.3797-43.35<.0001 ***Velar nasal

0.48440.17472.77

0.00557 **Short-lag obstruent 0.7320

0.17414.20<.0001 ***0.2347

NOTE: positive z value indicates more likely to be male.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Mandarin model

44

Fixed effect

Est.

Std. Errorzp(Intercept)-9.1774

0.2612-35.14<.0001***

Front vowel-0.80410.2616-3.07

0.002110 **Short-lag obstruent 19.7346

0.302265.31<.0001***

Velar nasal

0.70690.19273.67

0.000245 ***Low tone-0.44220.2265-1.95

0.050907 .

NOTE: positive z value indicates more likely to be male.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Cantonese model

45

Conclusions:
Chinese personal names
features are observed in gendered personalnames for both Mandarin and Cantonese.

 Consistent with frequency code.
 No evidence that use of fortune tellingconsiderably reduces sound symbolic effects in HK
corpus.

• However, patterns in lexical tones,

particularly in Cantonese, are inconsistent
with the frequency code.

 May result from dramatic shifts in lexical tones
across Chinese varieties and over time, resulting inmismatches between semantic content and tone.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Sound symbolic phenomena in segmental

46

From personal names toPokémon names
from naming a person?
お名前は…?

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• How is naming a Pokémon different47• Compared to human babies, the properties

of Pokémon are more semantically rich andconcrete:
Fire Type
Lizard-like

Grass/Poison TypeBlue-Green
Dinosaur-like

OrangeUnevolved

Has a big flower
on its back
EvolvedStarr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

From personal names toPokémon names48• So, there are a number of obvious things wemight convey about each Pokémon, via its
name.
Fire Type
Lizard-like

Grass/Poison TypeBlue-Green
Dinosaur-like

OrangeUnevolved

Has a big flower
on its back
EvolvedStarr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

From personal names toPokémon names

49Semantic transparency inChinese Pokémon names
many Chinese Pokémon names are simply
straightforward descriptions:小火龙 ‘small fire lizard’小火马 ‘small fire horse’绿毛虫 ‘green caterpillar’
白海狮 ‘white sea lion’

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Unlike in the Japanese and English corpora,

50

Semantic transparency inChinese Pokémon names
in Chinese, which strongly prefers semantictransparency over phonological faithfulness.
 e.g., kangaroo = 袋鼠 daishu (‘pocket rat’)Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• This is a broader sociolinguistic phenomenon

51• We can also see this tendency in the Chinesetranslations of the term ‘Pokémon’ itself.
 Until a 2016 directive by Nintendo to unify thename across languages, Chinese markets usednames like 口袋妖怪 kǒudài yāoguài (‘pocket
monster’).

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Semantic transparency inChinese Pokémon names

52Semantic transparency inChinese Pokémon names
over phonological faithfulness, the Chinese
corpus shows an unusual phonologicaldistance from the original Japanese Pokémon
names.
 14% overlap, vs. 24% overlap between English &Japanese.
 This is remarkably low, given the large number of
cognates in Chinese and Japanese.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• As a result of this preference for semantic

53

Chinese Pokémon names:
Research question
content in Chinese Pokémon naming,
can we still observe sound symbolic
phenomena in the Chinese corpus?
• Is sound symbolism more relevant forsome aspects of Pokémon (e.g.,strength) than others (e.g., gender
distribution)?

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Considering the large role of semantic

54

Chinese Pokémon names:
Another research question
sparked a political protest at the Japanese
consulate in Hong Kong (Wang 2016).

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• In 2016, Chinese Pokémon naming practices

55

Chinese Pokémon names:
Another research question
developed in two separate versions: Mandarin: originally used in Taiwan
 Cantonese: used in Hong Kong
• But, in 2016, Nintendo decided to unify thetwo systems, discarding the old Cantonesenames in favor of the names developed for
Mandarin speakers.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Historically, Chinese Pokémon names were56

Chinese Pokémon names:
Another research question• While Cantonese and Mandarin are as linguisticallydistant as French and Italian, both varieties use thesame characters, and every character has a
Mandarin and Cantonese reading:Char. Mandarin

Cantonese

Eng. Trans.

花

[fa˥]

‘flower’[xua˥]• So, it is possible to read a Mandarin Pokémon namein Cantonese, resulting in a different phonologicalform.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Some key linguistic background:57

Chinese Pokémon names:
Another research question
dramatic phonological changes in many
Cantonese Pokémon names:
Old name: 比卡超 Béikāchīu
New name: 皮卡丘 Pèihkāyāu

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• The 2016 decision by Nintendo resulted in58• Are the new Cantonese names substantiallyworse than the old names, from a soundsymbolism perspective?

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Chinese Pokémon names:
Another research question59• For personal names, we were examining factorsthat predict gender.
• Pokémon have other features we can predict: Weight
 Height
 “Stats” (strength, etc.)
 Evolution stage
 Gender distribution (ratio of male to female)Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Chinese Pokémon names:
Dependent variables

60

Dep.
variable

EffectEst.

Std. Errorzp

WeightSyllable count0.377840.090484.176<.0001 ***Reduplication-0.81688

0.15900

5.137<.0001 ***Syllable count0.164203

0.067400

2.436

0.015055 *Reduplication-0.420858 0.114439-3.678 0.000251 ***Syllable count39.478

6.586

5.995

Reduplication-65.873

11.187-5.888 <.0001 ***Front vowel

12.938

4.040

3.203

0.001415 **4th Tone(falling)

23.919

7.137

3.351

0.000842 ***HeightStat. total<.0001 ***Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Mandarin:
Significant factors, pt. 1

61

Dep.
variable

EffectEst.

Std. Error

z

p

Stage

Syllable count0.168100.042883.920<.0001 ***Reduplication-0.39339

0.07426-5.298 <.0001 ***Velar final

0.130080.037773.444

0.000606 ***4th Tone(falling)

0.081190.03193

2.542

0.011213 *Reduplication-5.5317

2.1994-2.515 0.0121 *Gender(pos = male)Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Mandarin:
Significant factors, pt. 262

Mandarin:
Key observations• As in personal names, reduplication

 Consistent with grammatical function ofreduplication in Mandarin.
• Both personal names and Pokémon show

consistent Tone 4 effect.
 We’ll return to this later.
• Fewer segmental effects observed here thanin personal names.
 Front vowels associated with stronger Pokémon,contrary to frequency code predictions.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

associated with small, weak, female.

63

Analysis, Part 2: Old vs. New
Cantonese names
names contain more sound symbolic
phenomena than the new names?

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Do the original Cantonese Pokémon

64Analysis, Part 2: Old vs. New
Cantonese names
chosen in Mandarin, so we expect there to
be fewer sound symbolic effects.
• However, prosodic structural features, suchas syllable count and reduplication, willremain constant between Cantonese andMandarin pronunciations of characters.
• Certain segmental features, such as coda

velar nasal, will also stay constant.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Reminder: the new names were originally

65

Dep.
variable

EffectEst.

Std. Errorzp

WeightSyllable count0.24180

0.098972.443

0.0148 *Reduplication-0.81434

0.16179-5.033 <.0001 ***Reduplication-0.37599

0.11704

3.212

2nd tone (midrising)-0.18405

0.09371-1.964 0.04988 *Reduplication-53.597

11.480-4.669 <.0001 ***2nd tone (midrising)-33.7419.229-3.656 0.000273 ***HeightStat. total

0.00137 **Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Original Cantonese names:
Significant factors, pt. 1

66

Dep.
variable

EffectEst.

Std. Error

z

p

Stage

Syllable count0.174570

0.046953

3.718

0.000216 ***Reduplication-0.398270 0.078943-5.045 <.0001 ***GenderReduplication-5.5317

2.1994-2.515 0.0121 *(pos = male)6th Tone (lowlevel)

2.366

1.087

2.177

0.02978 *Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Original Cantonese names:
Significant factors, pt. 2

67

Dep.
variable

EffectEst.

Std. Errorzp

WeightSyllable count0.24180

0.098972.443

0.0148 *Reduplication-0.81434

0.16179-5.033 <.0001 ***3rd tone (midlevel)

0.194190.090352.149

0.03190 *HeightReduplication-0.395883

0.113651-3.4830.000522 ***Stat. total

Reduplication-61.469

11.028-5.574 <.0001 ***2nd tone (midrising)-36.989

8.994-4.112 <.0001 ***Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

New Cantonese names:
Significant factors, pt. 1

68

Dep.
variable

EffectEst.

Std. Error

z

p

Stage

Syllable count0.190083

0.042230

4.501<.0001***

Reduplication-0.386947 0.074183-5.216 <.0001***

Velar nasal

0.093367

0.035799

2.608

GenderReduplication-5.9032.171-2.719 0.00672 **(pos = male)6th Tone (lowlevel)

2.987

1.083

2.759

0.00929 **0.00595 **Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

New Cantonese names:
Significant factors, pt. 2

69

Observations: what is the impact of
the new Cantonese names?
readings of names preserve syllable countand reduplication, these features both
remain significant predictors.
• Velar nasal, a feature that remains

constant across Mandarin and Cantonese,
also becomes a significant effect.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Because Mandarin and Cantonese

70

Observations: what is the impact of
the new Cantonese names?
• The strength of Cantonese Tone 2 as a
• Instead, the correspondence of Mandarin

tones to Cantonese tones results inincongruous correlations: Mandarin T4, which correlates with larger,
stronger, more masculine Pokémon, corresponds
to Cantonese T3, a mid level tone, and T6, a low
level tone.
 As a result, Cantonese T3 significantly correlateswith higher weight.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

predictor is reduced.

71

Overall, are the new names
worse?
few features, we have seen that, whilecertain sound symbolic effects arepreserved, other incongruous effects are
introduced into the new corpus, due totranslation from Mandarin.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Through our observations of effects of a72

Overall, are the new names
worse?
“worse”, from a sound symbolic
perspective, although they may be moredistant from the Japanese originals.
• Objections to the name changes appear

to be primarily due to sociopoliticalconcerns and general dislike of change,
particularly for cultural phenomena
associated with childhood.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Thus, the names are not dramatically73

What do we observe regarding
sound symbolism and tone?
to small things and low tones
corresponding to big things, assuggested by the frequency code, thelargest effects for tone are:
 T4 in Mandarin (for large things)
 T2 in Cantonese (for small things)• What do these tones have incommon?

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Rather than high tones corresponding74

It’s not the pitch, it’s the contour
feature the steepest slope among thetones in that variety:Mandarin tone contours(Wong et al. 2005)

Cantonese tone contours(Francis et al. 2008, via Wikipedia)

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Both Mandarin T4 and Cantonese T2

75

It’s not the pitch, it’s the contour• The high-low fall of Mandarin T4 is iconic This is the tone used in the word 大 (‘big’)• The mid-high rise of Cantonese T2 isiconic of smallness.
 This is the tone used in 小 ( ‘small’) This tone is also used in diminuitive
reduplication processes in Cantonese.
• Reminds us that human listeners are

sensitive to steepness of pitch contour,
not just pitch.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio Universityof largeness.

76• Overall, while we have seen somesound symbolic effects in the
Pokémon data, they have been lesspervasive than the effects observedfor personal names.
• Why?

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Comparing sound symbolic effects
in personal names and Pokémon
names data77• The prosodic structure of personalnames is more constrained.

 In Pokémon names, syllable count andreduplication did much of the heavy lifting.

• Chinese Pokémon names prioritize

semantic transparency.

 And the semantic properties of Pokémon are
more fixed and concrete than those ofhuman babies.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Why more sound symbolic effects
in Chinese personal names than in
Pokémon names?

78• Due to the intertwining of morphemeand syllable in Chinese (resulting fromthe writing system), it is relatively
difficult to retain semantic information
while tweaking phonological form.
• Thus, when semantics is a priority, soundsymbolism is reduced.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University

Why more sound symbolic effects
in Chinese personal names than in
Pokémon names?

79Conclusions
structure, segmental features, and lexical
tone have been observed for both Chinese
personal names and Pokémon names, in
Mandarin and Cantonese.
• These effects are observed in spite of theclose relationship between form andmeaning necessitated by the Chinese writing
system, and the prioritization of semantictransparency in Chinese naming.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Sound symbolic phenomena in prosodic

80

Acknowledgments• Thanks to Max Fennell-Chametzky andTianxiao Wang for assistance with coding
the Pokémon corpora.
• Special thanks to Shigeto
Kawahara for organizing thisconference.

Starr, Yu & Shih, 5/2018, Keio University• Thanks to the entire Pokémonastics team!

81

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