Rummer, R. & Schweppe, J.
University of Erfurt
In literature on sound symbolism, it is suggested that /i/ (as in peace) is associated with positive words and /o/ is associated with negative words. We tested the hypothesis that this is due to the face muscle activation involved in articulating these vowels (articulatory feedback hypothesis). Articulating /i/ contracts the same muscles as smiling (i.e., the zygomaticus major muscle, ZMM) and should thus increase positive feelings, while articulating /o/ prevents smiling (by contracting the orbicularis oris muscle, OOM). In the first experiment we demonstrated that people who articulated /i/ (once per second) while reading cartoons perceived them as funnier than people who concurrently articulated /o/ (once per second). (In contrast, hearing /i/ or /o/ while looking at the cartoons did not affect the funniness ratings.) In a second experiment, we demonstrated that pseudowords including smile vowels (i.e., vowels whose articulation contracts the ZMM) are rated as more pleasant than pseudowords with frown vowels (i.e., vowels whose articulation contracts the OOM) when they are read aloud, but not when they are just heard, as should be the case based on existing sound symbolism theories. In sum, our findings clearly support the articulatory feedback hypothesis.