14 August 2014 @ 11:04 am
 
Of the two Mandarin words "qing" and "zhong," one means "light" and the other means "heavy." Which do you think is which?
If you guessed that "qing" means "light," you're not alone. English speakers are far more likely to guess this, and guess what? We're correct! We're all some kind of secret linguistic savants! Or really lucky guessers, maybe!

So What's Going on Here?

For some reason, "front" vowels made with the tongue forward in the mouth (i and e) bring to mind "small, fast, or sharp" things, while vowels made with the tongue further back in the mouth (o, a, and u) make us think of "larger, heavier" things. And this applies not only across languages, but also to made-up words: In a study where researchers pulled some brand names straight out of their asses, participants assigned names containing front vowels to objects like small cars and knives, while they preferred back vowels for objects like Thor hammers and SUVs.
(..)
This "vowel size" effect applies not only to size, but also to gender. Researchers have found that larger vowels are associated more with masculinity, whereas smaller ones are associated more with femininity. For example, the "a" in "Brad" is a deep, masculine sound, whereas the "e" and "i" in "Angelina" are more feminine. The research found that boys were one and a half times more likely to have a large vowel sound in their name than girls (..). And if you want to target a product toward dudes, you want those back-vowel sounds -- Axe, Maxim, Xbox, Dodge Ram, etc.

nez, vai ēriks rudais par šo apvainotos vai arī lepni paziņotu, ka skaņai nav nozīmes, visu izšķir panākumi. vai varbūt tas tieši visu izskaidro, kārtējais napoleōna stila kompensācijas izgājiens? smejos, smejos, bet tai pat laikā galvā taisu sarakstu - baiba, pēteris, lāsma, vilnis, dārta - un mēģinu izdomāt, vai rodas kādas reakcijas, jo "nepareizās" patskaņu skaņas. nu ne tak. tad domāju par cilvēkiem varas pozīcijās, piemēram, prezidentiem. nez, vai vairas panākumos ir kāda nozīme tam, ka viņu nesauca Lizete, trīne vai Lelde?

heh, kaut kā baigi pie šī aizķēros. laikam tāpēc, ka izjūtu iekšēju cīņu - no vienas puses tagad aiz ziņkārības gribas visādus vārdus pašķirot un paskatīties, kā tur ir ar tiem patskaņiem un vai tiešām var atrast kādas sakarības, no otras puses gribas mest kaut ko pa gaisu un ņurdēt wtf, wtf, wtf, vai tiešām viss jāšķiro ar piesaisti dzimumam, grr.
 
 
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cukursēne[info]saccharomyces on August 14th, 2014 - 09:04 pm
btw, rīt tiekamies tai mantas albuma pasākumā, jā?
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/m.[info]mesija on August 14th, 2014 - 09:14 pm
jā!
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cukursēne[info]saccharomyces on August 14th, 2014 - 09:22 pm
super!!
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