The average score was step 1.478 on the plosive updates, step 1.45 about fricative reputation, step one.707 on the nose updates, and you will 1.942 regarding the liquids status. A decreased area for the Dining table step 3 summarises the outcome from model of Lay 3. The fresh new standard is the latest fricative reputation, and in addition we compared the plosive versus. fricative conditions, the fresh new nasal against. fricative criteria, while the h2o against. fricative requirements. Earliest, the essential difference between the new plosive and you can fricative standards wasn’t credible, since 95% CI of this coefficient imagine included zero [?0.06, 0.09]. Second, new nose versus. fricative and you can water against. fricative comparisons showed that each of the fresh new coefficient rates was in fact confident (? = 0.16) (nasal) and you will (? = 0.3) (liquid) and you can each of the 95% CIs failed to is no ([0.09, 0.24] (nasal) and you will [0.23, 0.38] (liquid)), thereby recommending one nonce terms having nasals and h2o had been judged are a whole lot more kawaii names than others with fricatives.
Discussion
The current data indicated that (1) labial consonants may feel of the kawaii than coronal and you will dorsal consonants, (2) high-regularity consonants may become in the kawaii than just low-volume consonants, and you will (3) h2o /?/ and you may nose /n/ are more inclined to feel associated with the kawaii than simply fricative /z/ (and you can plosive /d/). These show advise that the place-of-articulation feature on the kawaii is [labial], while the regularity element on the kawaii are [high frequency]. The manner-of-articulation feature needs subsequent talk. As the consonant showing the best mediocre score is actually h2o /?/, we can presume that the trend-of-articulation ability on the kawaii is [liquid]. Yet not, just like the Bayesian investigation demonstrated, nasal /n/ is far more more likely regarding the kawaii than simply fricative /z/. Ergo, we could ending you to definitely worldbrides.org undersöka webbplatsen water and you will nasals, each of which can be [sonorant], is actually regarding the kawaii.
General discussion
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 shortness, 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 bulleted 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.