3 ms·
> The "kiki" sound has more high frequency content than the "bouba" sound And where did you get that from? In non-tonal languages the pitch conveys almost no i
by littlestymaar 8mo ago
> The "kiki" sound has more high frequency content than the "bouba" sound
And where did you get that from?
In non-tonal languages the pitch conveys almost no information and people speak at very different ones (and for instance a male saying "kiki" will say it at lower frequencies than a woman saying "bouba" most of the time) so I find your affirmation very dubious.
> and it's no mystery why the brain associates one with the other.
Specialists of the field find that mysterious but some smartass on HN disagrees.
- IAmBroom 8mo ago> > The "kiki" sound has more high frequency content than the "bouba" sound > And where did you get that from? In non-tonal languages the pitch conveys almost no information and people speak at very different ones (and for instance a male saying "kiki" will say it at lower frequencies than a woman saying "bouba" most of the time) so I find your affirmation very dubious. You misunderstand the post. It has nothing to do with the voice of the speaker. Long drawn-out sounds have lower frequency components than short-lasting sounds. A pin drop is REALLY high-pitched; a moan has at least some low-pitch components (but may still be high-pitched, too - more often called a "keening" than a moan). It's not about intonation; it's a mathematical consequence of the relationship between frequency and time-domain incidents, typically measured with Fourier transforms.
- littlestymaar 8mo agoSigh.