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Age, Gender, and Sound Symbolism in American English

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Age, Gender, and Sound Symbolism in American English Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Spring 5-20-2015 Sound Effects: Age, Gender, and Sound Symbolism in American English Timothy Allen Krause Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Other Linguistics Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Krause, Timothy Allen, "Sound Effects: Age, Gender, and Sound Symbolism in American English" (2015). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 2304. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.2301 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sound Effects: Age, Gender, and Sound Symbolism in American English by Timothy Allen Krause A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Thesis Committee: Tucker Childs, Chair Jenny Mittelstaedt Jeff Conn Portland State University 2015 SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM © 2015 Timothy Allen Krause SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM i Abstract This mixed-method study investigated the correlation of sound symbolic associations with age and gender by analyzing data from a national survey of 292 American English speakers. Subjects used 10 semantic differential scales to rate six artificial brand names that targeted five phonemes. Subjects also described the potential products they imagined these artificial brand names to represent. Quantitative analysis alone provided insufficient evidence to conclude that age or gender affect sound symbolism in American English. While 26 out of 60 scales showed a monotonic shift among the means of the three age groups, only three were statistically significant. The evidence of differences between genders was similarly weak; only five scales out of 60 showed a statistically significant difference when comparing genders. Analysis of the qualitative data, however, suggested both monotonic generational shifts as well as generational blips in sound-symbolic associations. Of particular interest is the possible influence of pop culture, fashions, and fads, and society's shifting focus from broadcast to narrowcast media. The implications of this research are relevant for both theory (empirical evidence for iconicity in language) and application (e.g., devising brand names that communicate particular attributes to specific demographics). SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM ii Acknowledgments I wish to thank my advisor Dr. Tucker Childs for his careful guidance and good humor; Portland State University's Department of Applied Linguistics and especially the James R. Nattinger Graduate Teaching Fellowship for the resources to pursue this inquiry; my committee members, Dr. Jenny Mittelstaedt and Dr. Jeff Conn, for their review and constructive feedback; Dr. Kimberley Brown, Dr. John Hellerman, Dr. Tetyana Sydorenko, and Dr. Keith Walters for additional feedback in the preparation of my research; my colleague Emily Minnette for her help in rating the qualitative data; my parents, Larry and June Krause, whose legacy made possible my return to graduate school; and my husband, Robert Dell, who has provided abundant encouragement and unwavering support of my pursuit of an encore career in applied linguistics and TESOL. SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM iii Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………….. i Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………. ii List of Tables …………………………………………………………………….. vi List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………. vii Chapter 1. Introduction …………………………………………......……………. 1 Chapter 2. Literature Review ……………………………………………………. 3 2.1 Sound Symbolism ................................................................................. 3 2.2 Language Variation and Change .......................................................... 8 2.2.1 Variation by Age ................................................................... 9 2.2.2 Variation by Gender ............................................................. 10 2.3 Variation in Sound Symbolism ........................................................... 12 Chapter 3. Methodology ……………………………………………………….... 15 3.1 Pilot Study ........................................................................................... 15 3.2 Participants .......................................................................................... 16 3.3 Data Gathering ..................................................................................... 17 3.4 Data Analysis ....................................................................................... 22 3.4.1 Quantitative Data .................................................................. 22 3.4.2 Qualitative Data .................................................................... 23 Chapter 4. Results ……………………………………………………………...... 24 4.1 Age ....................................................................................................... 24 SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM iv 4.1.1 Quantitative Data .................................................................. 24 4.1.2 Qualitative Data .................................................................... 28 4.2 Gender .................................................................................................. 32 4.2.1 Quantitative Data ................................................................... 32 4.2.2 Qualitative Data ..................................................................... 37 Chapter 5. Discussion ………………………………………………………….... 41 5.1 Quantitative Results ............................................................................. 42 5.2 Qualitative Results ............................................................................... 45 5.3 Limitations ........................................................................................... 49 Chapter 6. Conclusions ………………………………………………………….. 53 6.1 Recommendations for Future Research ............................................... 53 References ............................................................................................................... 56 Appendix A. Pilot Study ………………………………………………………...... 62 Appendix B. Survey Instruments ……………………………………………….... 70 Appendix C. Survey Distribution ………………………………………………... 79 Appendix D. Letter of Exemption from Portland State University Human Subjects Research Review Committee ………………………...... 81 Appendix E. Means, Modes, and Medians, by Age …………………………….. 82 Appendix F. Means, Modes, and Medians, by Gender .......................................... 88 Appendix G. Results of Kruskal-Wallis Test, for Age ............................................ 91 Appendix H. Results of Mann-Whitney U Test, for Gender ................................... 93 SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM v Appendix I. Results of Category Coding of Qualitative Data ................................. 95 Appendix J. Comparison of Qualitative Results ...................................................... 101 SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM vi List of Tables 3-1 Demographic Distribution of Subjects ............................................................. 17 3-2 Phonemes Targeted in this Study ..................................................................... 19 4-1 Significant Results of Statistical Tests for Variation of Means, by Age ........................................................................................................ 25 4-2 Significant Results of Statistical Tests for Variation of Means, by Age Clusters .......................................................................................... 27 4-3 Significant Results of Statistical Tests for Variation of Means, by Gender .................................................................................................. 33 4-4 Distribution of Instances of Statistically Significant Variables, by Scale and Stimulus ............................................................................... 36 SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM vii List of Figures 4-1 Statistically Significant Variation of Means, by Age ..................................... 26 4-2 Statistically Significant Variation of Means, by Age Clusters ....................... 28 4-3 Three Most Frequently Referenced Product Categories, by Age, Percent of Those Responding .................................................................... 29 4-4 Statistically Significant Variation of Means, by Gender ................................ 34 4-5 Three Most Frequently Referenced Product Categories, by Gender, Percent of Those Responding .................................................................... 37 SOUND EFFECTS: AGE, GENDER, AND SOUND SYMBOLISM 1 Chapter 1. Introduction Does a mil sound smaller than a mal ? Does the brand name Vahnah sound more effective than the same product called Nahnah ? Are the answers to these questions the same for twenty-somethings as they are for their grandparents? What about for males and females? Is sound symbolism a socially conditioned phenomenon? The non-arbitrary connection of meaning to sound commonly known as sound symbolism is a sometimes controversial topic among linguists. Over time, however, the field has accumulated evidence that sound symbolism, also known
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