je m'appelle l'amour.

om nom nom nom nom... Chomsky.

yummy words.

Geia.



Does cheese taste more maluma or takete?

How about cranberries?


From last Thursday's article from BBC News: People May Be Able to Taste Words (Redirected from Lingformant).


According to a study, apparently, people thought brie tasted more round and "maluma" and that cranberries tasted more sharp and "takete."

It kind of makes sense.


bouba and kiki

"The concept of sharp- and soft-sounding words was introduced in 1929, when Estonian psychologist Wolfgang Kohler designed an experiment that asked people to choose which of two shapes was named 'bouba' and which was 'kiki'."

Which do you think is which?

"The vast majority of people choose kiki for the orange angular shape and bouba for the purple rounded shape."


That's why they (they the scientists) applied this concept to taste, as well.

Funny; in a frank conversation at a dining hall once, I commented on how food product names with "O" are frequent and looks tasty for some reason.

Froot Loops. Eggo. Oreos. Cheerios. Chow mein noodles?

Maybe there's something appetizing about a nicely rounded shape. Donuts?


And in earlier in the article, they mention a study about sound vs. shape as well. The experiment participants associated big dots with a low pitch, and small dots with a high pitch.

I guess small things tend to be squeaky.

In relevance to that: I saw UP the new Pixar movie today (it was very good, by the way). In it, a big, mean-looking Doberman has a collar that allows him to talk. The collar (how ever it works...) is originally set for this large dog to have an appropriate low and heavy voice. However, partially in the movie, the wiring of the collar breaks, and it gives him a squeaky, chipmunk voice. It was pretty funny.

I think this humor comes from the visual-audio association we naturally possess as humans, as indicated in the study.


So perhaps we can hear shapes and taste words. I wonder how much cultural deviation exists in this sort of study... How would the French respond: le fromage, c'est maluma ou takete?





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