Resolution Link-Up!

 

As we all know, with the new year often comes resolutions that fit all shapes and sizes. Well, the lovely Natalie Snyders has decided to host a link up for us all to say what our resolutions are. I think it's a great idea (and should certainly hold me more accountable), so I'm joining in on the fun! This year I'm doing a mix of academic, and general resolutions... take a look below:

First, I really would like to better my Spanish. You'd think dating a Spaniard and being in Spain for about 5 months over the past 2.5 years would have made me half bilingual by now, right? I do understand quite a bit, but since I've only ever had 1 semester and 1 month of classes I do poorly with listening unless people talk slowly. Don't get me wrong-- I can hold some conversations (especially after some vino) but I just want to improve my grammar so I feel more confident!So, long story short-- I aim on taking a Spanish class this semester and possibly in the summer!

Second, it'd be nice to actually read more. I managed to read a couple books this past semester, but not as many as I would've liked. So, this year I aim to read at least 2 books a month, whether they are SLP related or just for fun. 

Third, blog, blog, blog! I want to blog much more. I love writing and I enjoy reaching out to people and advocating for our field. My resolution for this is to write at least 4 posts a month...On top of this, I'd like to make more products! We'll see how this goes, although I might be able to make some when I actually start seeing clients in the fall during grad school... so keep an eye out!

Fourth,  I want to go to my first ASHA convention this year! I'd love to meet all the fellow bloggers and clinicians as well as learn about new research in our field! (Perhaps I'll even do a poster session on my undergraduate thesis..but we'll see. Baby steps!) 

If you'd like to join in or read other bloggers' New Years Resolutions, check out Natalie Snyders' blog! 

Perception of Words and Their Weight

Have you ever thought about how certain words, and more specifically the sounds within them, play a role in our perception of what that word symbolizes? Part of this concept is called 'sound symbolism', where certain sounds can convert different perceptions. It's an interesting topic, and has been researched by several different fields. It's even recently caught the eye of a Reader's Digest writer, Alison Caporimo, who wrote a little ditty on this concept in the December 2013 issue (page 55).

She mentioned that researchers from NYU used the pseudo-words 'frish' and 'frosh' to describe a fake product and asked subjects to rate which they thought seemed like more of an ice cream brand. Can you guess which fake word subjects felt more keen to eat as a snack food? Frosh.

Now why is this? Caporimo goes on to state that these researchers believe that it is due to something deemed as the "Frequency Code". This term has been used by other researchers, even  as early as 1994 by John J. Ohala, a UC Berkley Linguistics professor. It is used to describe the phenomenon of associating front vowels (like 'i') with smaller (and thus healthier) things. Following suit, this is why words with back vowels like 'frosh' sound heavier, creamier and/or bigger.

It does make sense, as our oral cavity is much smaller when creating the front sounds, which could partially be the reason why we associate words with these sounds as 'smaller' or 'lighter'. Whereas, when we create sounds that are further back, our oral cavity is larger and we even open our mouth more, relating to larger, heavier objects that take up more space. At least, that's what I think.

Although this concept isn't 100% speech-language pathology related, what do you guys think? Conjure up some words that fit this or even some that don't. I believe most food brands follow suit with this. John J. Ohala even mentions in his article that it is seen cross-linguistically and he showed similarities in the vowels of words meaning "large" and "small" across several languages, it's worth a check (Table 22.2, page 336).

This does come with a  disclaimer that the author of the Reader's Digest article didn't mention who the NYU researchers were or provide a reference. I tried to find who they were for referencing through some online research, but couldn't. I did find John J. Ohala's article that discusses this concept, and other linguistic phenomena, that contribute to sound symbolism. There is a research article by two Marketing professors, one of which is from NYU, that used the terms 'fresh' and 'frosh' in their research... so perhaps that is who Caporimo is referring to? I've added it below.


Reader's Digest Article: http://www.rd.com/culture/experts-explain-why-certain-words-sound-fat/

John J. Ohala, "The frequency codes underlies the sound-symbolic use of voice pitch" : http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~ohala/papers/freq_code.pdf

Eric Yorkston & Geeta Menon, "A Sound Idea: Phonetic Effects of Brand Names on Consumer Judgments" : http://web.stanford.edu/class/linguist62n/yorkston.pdf


* I'd also like to thank my lovely mother, who is an avid reader of several magazines and found this article. She's always looking out for linguistics and speech/medical related articles for me. :)


There is also a disclaimer that I wasn't paid by any of these people or their affiliated organizations or publications. This is solely a reflection of my own interest in this subject and the desire to share this information with others.

It's A Glottal Thing

Today I have an extremely small anecdote to share, but the linguist in me found it rather amusing. Let me take you back to a few days ago...

I had just sat down with my boyfriend on these unique benches in the local airport. They're an odd shape, almost a horizontal cross-section of a boat with a dorsal fin in the middle for back support. My boyfriend had already taken out his laptop and I was in the process of mimicking his motions, as we had an hour to kill.

In the midst of sorting through my rather large tote (brought to be used as a beach tote for towels at our destination) I hear a rather odd noise. Of course, airports are a mecca of odd noises, even a small one like this. Several languages and dialects are being spoken, plates and cups are clanging on the tables, there's pitter-pattering of small and large feet alike... so this shouldn't have been out of what I'd normally expect, especially as I've heard similar utterances before.

All I heard was " Now I thought I told you before..." What caught my attention was the extreme glottal stop usage of the man's dialogue. Or perhaps his accent made it sound harsher and more apparent in speech. I can't quite tell, but he was somewhere from the United Kingdom. Despite hearing British/ Welsh/Irish people talking before, I had never heard this much glottal-age in such a short sentence. (For those who might not be aware of what a glottal stop is, it is the 'noise' you make when saying things like 'uh-oh' or 'button', it's more prominent in British English. It's that quick "stop" you make in the middle of uh-oh. I'll post a video below to help.)  I'll attempt to transcribe it, but forgive me as it's been a year since I've transcribed anything, and vowels aren't my strong-suit. This is what it sounded like to me:

Aj  θɔʔ  aj  toʔd  ju  bifɔʔ

All I know is, I swear I heard that darn glottal stop at least 3 times. I even thought he pronounced it at the end of both 'I's too, but I left that out as it's most likely my mind on sensory overload. Either way, my inner linguist is fairly satisfied right now, despite leaving the Basque country, a linguistic paradise, for the time being. Does anyone find it amusing to hear less-common American English (or your native dialect) IPA sounds? What's your favorite IPA sound?

*Note: I'm not disrespecting British people at all, so i hope it doesn't sound like that! It's just amusing to hear accents. :)

Here's a link to the promised video: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uS4YZ_a3_ig     I think he does a decent job at explaining how the noise is made and giving examples.