The typical score was 1.478 on the plosive position, step one.forty-five in the fricative standing, step one.707 on nasal standing, and 1.942 about drinking water condition. A minimal area in the Table step three summarises the outcomes out of modeling out-of Set 3. The newest standard is the fresh fricative position, therefore opposed the new plosive versus. fricative criteria, the latest nasal against. fricative standards, and the h2o vs. fricative standards. Earliest, the difference between the new plosive and you will fricative criteria was not reliable, while the 95% CI on the coefficient guess incorporated no [?0.06, 0.09]. Next, the fresh new nose compared to. fricative and you may drinking water vs. fricative contrasting indicated that all of the newest coefficient prices have been positive (? = 0.16) (nasal) and (? = 0.3) (liquid) and you can both of this new 95% CIs did not are no ([0.09, 0.24] (nasal) and you may [0.23, 0.38] (liquid)), and therefore indicating that nonce terms and conditions having nasals and you can drinking water had been judged as alot more kawaii labels than those that have fricatives.
Dialogue
The present day research indicated that (1) labial consonants are more inclined to feel associated with the kawaii than coronal and dorsal consonants, (2) high-frequency consonants are more inclined to feel for the kawaii than low-frequency consonants, and you can (3) liquids /?/ and you can nose /n/ may end up being in the kawaii than simply fricative /z/ (and you may plosive /d/). This type of overall performance recommend that the area-of-articulation element for the kawaii is [labial], while the frequency ability associated with kawaii try [high frequency]. The manner-of-articulation function demands subsequent discussion. Just like the consonant demonstrating the best average score was liquids /?/, we can presume that style-of-articulation ability on the kawaii are [liquid]. But not, since the Bayesian analysis exhibited, nose /n/ is far more apt to be from the kawaii than just fricative /z/. Therefore, we are able to stop you to drinking water and you may nasals, all of which happen to be [sonorant], is in the kawaii.
Standard conversation
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 Jamaican modellerar Г¤ktenskap 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.