An average get was step one.478 on the plosive standing, step 1.45 regarding fricative standing, step one.707 throughout the nose status, and you may 1.942 from the liquid position. A minimal section for the Table step 3 summarises the results out-of modeling from Put step three. New baseline is brand new fricative status, so we compared the fresh new plosive vs. fricative standards, the latest nasal versus. fricative requirements, and also the drinking water against. fricative conditions. First, the essential difference between brand new plosive and you may fricative conditions wasn’t legitimate, because 95% CI of coefficient imagine incorporated no [?0.06, 0.09]. 2nd, brand new nasal against. fricative and drinking water vs. fricative contrasting showed that each of the new coefficient prices were positive (? = 0.16) (nasal) and (? = 0.3) (liquid) and you can both of the 95% CIs didn’t is no ([0.09, 0.24] (nasal) and you may [0.23, 0.38] (liquid)), and thus recommending one to nonce terms which have nasals and h2o was basically evaluated to be far more kawaii brands compared to those with fricatives.

Dialogue

The modern analysis indicated that (1) labial consonants are more inclined to feel on the kawaii than coronal and dorsal consonants, (2) high-frequency consonants may end up being of kawaii than simply low-frequency consonants, and you will (3) liquid /?/ and nasal /n/ will getting in the kawaii than simply fricative /z/ (and plosive /d/). Such abilities suggest that the area-of-articulation element in the kawaii are [labial], in addition to regularity feature associated with the kawaii is [high-frequency]. The way-of-articulation element requires further discussion. As consonant showing the greatest mediocre rating are drinking water /?/, we are able to assume the manner-of-articulation element with the kawaii are [liquid]. not, as Bayesian study displayed, nasal /n/ is more likely to be in the kawaii than simply fricative /z/. For this reason, we could ending you to definitely water and you can nasals, both Г¤lskar israeliska kvinnor of that are [sonorant], is with the kawaii.

General discussion

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 smallness, 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 better suited for female names or bulleted 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.