An average rating try step 1.478 from the plosive status, step one.forty-five regarding fricative status, step 1.707 in the nose position, and you will step 1.942 in the liquids standing. A reduced section for the Desk 3 summarises the outcomes of modelling out-of Lay step three. The latest standard try brand new fricative status, and now we compared this new plosive compared to. fricative requirements, this new nasal versus. fricative standards, plus the liquids compared to. fricative criteria. Basic, the essential difference between the latest plosive and you will fricative standards wasn’t reputable, since the 95% CI in the coefficient estimate provided zero [?0.06, 0.09]. Next, this new nasal against. fricative and you may h2o against. fricative contrasting showed that both of the fresh new coefficient estimates was basically positive (? = 0.16) (nasal) and you can (? = 0.3) (liquid) and each of the new 95% CIs did not is no ([0.09, 0.24] (nasal) and you can [0.23, 0.38] (liquid)), and thus recommending you to nonce words that have nasals and you will drinking water was in fact judged to be far more kawaii brands compared to those having fricatives.
Talk
The modern research showed that (1) labial consonants are more likely to become of the kawaii than coronal and you can dorsal consonants, (2) high-frequency consonants are more inclined to end up being with the kawaii than simply low-volume consonants, and (3) h2o /?/ and you can nose /n/ are more inclined to become with the kawaii than fricative /z/ (and you will plosive /d/). Such overall performance recommend that the area-of-articulation ability associated with kawaii is actually [labial], and the frequency function with the kawaii is actually [high-frequency]. The manner-of-articulation function demands further discussion. Since the consonant proving the greatest average rating is liquids /?/, we are able to think that the trends-of-articulation element associated with the kawaii is [liquid]. Although not, as Bayesian data presented, nasal /n/ is far more more likely on the kawaii than simply fricative /z/. For this reason, we can stop one drinking water and nasals, both of which happen to be [sonorant], is with the kawaii.
General dialogue
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 quickness, 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 Tjeckian kvinnor fГ¶r Г¤ktenskap 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.