Words have a sound and a meaning

Today we know that words are not just conventional codes. They were born from man listening to the world. They describe what they represent, evoke its meaning through sound . This is the reason why some sounds share the meaning in many languages and why often even if we don't know its meaning we can guess it thanks to its sound expression. But let's go in order, because we haven't always thought so.

Words in a language have a sound and a meaning . Until recently these 2 elements were seen as 2 distinct and independent aspects. The classical linguistic model maintained that there was no relationship between words and their respective meanings: Ferdinand de Saussure, a linguist of the end of the 19th century, also said this, who maintained that our language is a convention and therefore, as such, the result of an arbitrary operation of attribution of meaning.

More recent studies have questioned this view by demonstrating that there is a hidden correlation between sound and meaning of the same word, even in very different languages. This research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which sees the collaboration of linguists, psychologists and computer scientists, argues that human beings speak a kind of universal language.

Data and information on 6000 languages (the number of languages we currently know) have demonstrated a correspondence: the same sounds correspond to the same meanings. This is particularly true when we want to name parts of the body, relationships, some physical properties, objects of the natural world: for example, the nose is marked by the nasal sound /n/ in most of the world's languages; the idea of round and that of red are united by the sound /r/ in the various linguistic groups. Pronouns also show precise regularities, for example for the first person singular pronoun I , sounds involving /u/, /p/, /b/, /t/, /s/, /r/ and / are very rare L/.

The word has a rhythm, it has an accent, it is a combination of several elements, it becomes a significant object. It has a meaning, a shape and also a colour, a size, a light, a speed, a taste or a way of moving.

The clear word is luminous ( clarus from the Latin means luminous): I don't say this only for its etymology but also because of those /a/ that look like windows wide open to welcome the light. On the contrary, the word dark takes us back to the dark not only for its meaning but also for that narrow /u/ that looks like a black hole we've slipped into.

There are words that are fast or slow, light or heavy, tender or harsh, welcoming or sharp, soft or rough, rigid or agile. We can use it as we use our 5 senses, as we use our nose or tongue. There are fat words filled with /o/ and thin words made up of lots of / i /. Fluid words that flow between / l / and /n/ and hard words in which you can take a /t/ a /r/ or a /c/ in the face. Thanks to their sound, without thinking for once about the meaning, we could use words like musical instruments, like markers, like hands.

Do you know Fosco Maraini ? Fanfole are poems in which he strips words of their meaning and leaves them with only sound. This is the beginning of the poem entitled The day at howler :

There are some smègi and lombidious days
with the dark sky and a gongruto fònzero
there are gnàlidi and budriosi noons

Feel how it all makes sense even though most of these words don't exist? It is the power of sound that evokes sensations, describes scenarios.

In a story by Achille Campanile , La Orga , a young boy whispers rubbish in Countess Mara's ear and she faints. The countess had written in the social column «I'm all for you» that she edited for a magazine, «If you have a question, contact me, I'm here to satisfy you». The young man justifies himself by saying: «How can I know, by reading, if a vowel is narrow or wide? I read “A question to ask ourselves”, and I asked a pig question».

Already Plato in the Cratylus deals with the nature of the relationship between words and things. For Hermogenes words have no other correctness than "convention and agreement" while for Cratylus they possess a correctness "by nature". Socrates' conclusion is that the name is indeed an imitation of the essence of the thing and therefore of reality but as such imperfect and therefore also needs convention and use. The name can be a more or less faithful imitation of the thing and can contain more or less iconic phonetic elements but if some elements can be incongruous without compromising the imitation it is because this is partly due to usage and convention. Hence usage and convention are as necessary to the name as resemblance. Basically words resemble the things they refer to and where there are inconsistencies they are filled by the convention, by the arbitrary attribution we have given to that word.

Plato associates a value to each letter of the Greek alphabet, for example of alpha and eta he says "these are large letters" used to compose words such as mega (large) or mekos (length) and so on.

Continuing in this direction, I find the studies of John Wallis (1616-1703) of great interest. We owe him the first English grammar that aims to describe the intrinsic structures of the language. These structures “with their sound hint at the different impressions produced by things”. For which he is able to connect words divided by groups of initial or final consonants to well-defined values. Some examples?

The Str group has a value of force or vigorous effort, some matching words are strong, strenght, strike, struggle.

The ending -ink has a value according to Wallis's studies of "motion tenuous interrupted": the corresponding group of words is wink (wink), clink (chink), chink (jingle).

Phonosymbolism: distinguishing events from sounds

These are just brief examples to introduce the concept of sound symbolism or phonosymbolism , a discipline that studies the interaction of speech sounds with the meaning of the terms they convey.

Our hearing evolved to identify the nature of events based on the noise they emit. We are all capable of associating natural sounds with physical objects and events. Think of the sound of the breeze as it meets the leaves of a tree, of a fist on the table or a window slamming, or of a fork as it meets your plate while you're eating.

Similarly it is no coincidence that the word ravine is so different from the word pistil . Instinctively one gets the impression that the former is able to suggest a large and deep object for the low sounds, for the double /r/ to rub against, for the dark vowels /u/ and /o/ and the latter un small and delicate object the double /l/ and the short /i/. Gliding resembles a smooth, uninterrupted event (with the continuous sounds / ʃ / /v/ and /l/), while stumbling with the plosives /tʃ/ /p/ and /k/ suggests the opposite. The differences are evident even to those who do not know the meaning of these words.

We learned at school that literature and poetry in particular use sounds, phonosymbolism and onomatopoeia to add sensory values to the contents of words and thus enhance the readers' experience.

Don … Don … And they tell me, Sleep!
they sing to me, Sleep! they whisper,
sleep! they whisper, Sleep!
There, voices of blue darkness…
They sound like cradle songs to me,
that make me go back to the way it was …
I felt my mother ... then nothing ...
on the evening.

My evening, Giovanni Pascoli

The symbolism of sound allows communication to be effective , it makes communication more vivid because it reinforces the meaning we wish to communicate.

Sounds in naming and marketing

Each word contains one or more phonemes , which are the smallest units into which a language can be broken down and constitute a system that varies from one language to another. Phonemes should not be confused with letters , which are instead the graphic signs used to reproduce sounds.

People determine the attributes of brands and products already from the name using the information they obtain from the phonemes. And how the phonetic effects of names play out in people's minds is uncontrollable because in part this is governed by one's sensory experiences.

To study an adequate name, it is necessary to choose phonemes that are able to convey the significant characteristics of the brand or product. The more the congruence between the spontaneous emotional aspect of the speaker and the significant characteristics of a brand or product increases, the more the name will seem right, able to tell the meaning. There are several characteristics that are part of sounds, we can often divide them into dual categories. The most common ones that are very useful in the study of naming are these.

Big small

We associate sounds with physical, real and metaphorical dimensions. We can find phonemes that express small dimensions such as /i/, /f/, /e/, /h/, /a/, /s/, /p/, /k/ or from phonemes that express large dimensions such as /o/, /u/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /ng/, /l/, /n/, /r/.

Male Female

How do you want your product, brand or company to be perceived as feminine or masculine? What characteristics of both kinds could help you convey your messages?
The phonemes /i/, /h/, /e/, /s/, /p/, /k/, are associated with masculine characteristics while /a/, /d/, /l/, /m/, /c /, /n/, /z/ are more feminine.

Sharp/Round

Sounds tell us about the shape of an object. The most common distinction is between angled phonemes such as /i/, /f/, /e/, /h/, /a/, /s/, /p/, /k/ and round phonemes such as /o/, / u/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /ng/, /l/, /n/, /r/, /z/.

Fast slow

There are phonemes to which we can associate a perception of speed such as /r/, /i/, /f/, /e/, /h/, /a/, /s/ and others that remind us of a sensation of slowness such as / o/, /u/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /l/, /n/.

Bright/Dark

Sounds can also transmit a different luminosity: the phonemes /i/, /f/, /e/, /h/, /a/, /s/, /p/, /k/ are perceived as luminous, while as more dark /o/, /u/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /ng/, /l/, /n/, /r/, /z/.

Nice/Strong

Let's take /r/ and the world of cars: values of hardness, speed and strength are associated with /r/ . Indeed, the vibrating has its own onomatopoeic ability to evoke the roar of an engine . The result is a feeling of power and dynamism : many cars that want to communicate power use it in the name: Prisma, Primera, Maestro, Escort, Scorpio, Sierra. Small cars, on the other hand, must express sympathy rather than power, and so the vibrating ones disappear: Uno, Panda, Duna, Clio, Fiesta, Punto, Polo.

Short-term benefit / long-term benefit

The angular or rounded shapes are associated respectively with ways of thinking, concrete or abstract. These modes are important because they influence our evaluation of the products. In particular, when people are thinking concretely, the short-term benefits are more important. Conversely, when people think more abstractly, the long-term benefits become more important.
Consequently, phonemes such as /i/, /f/, /e/, /h/, /a/, /s/, /p/, /k/ are associated with short-term benefits, while the phonemes /o/ , /u/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /l/, /n/, /r/ to long-term benefits.

Associating phonemes with values helps us in the study of naming especially for neologisms which are 95% based on sounds.