this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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Linguistics Humor

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[–] sir_pronoun 35 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

For those who didn't know the background, like me:

"The bouba–kiki effect or takete–maluma phenomenon is a non-arbitrary mental association between certain speech sounds and certain visual shapes. "

So: bouba sounds round, kiki sounds spikey

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

I thought about linking an explainer, but I lazily decided that this (and the wug) would be well-enough known here.

[–] dufkm 19 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (3 children)

BaBa is Melt

KeKe is Float

[–] chellomere 11 points 17 hours ago (1 children)
[–] dufkm 5 points 15 hours ago

Wall is Stop

[–] [email protected] 4 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

For keke is water is float, but keke is something else is sink. (Other substances tend to be more dense when keke than baba).

EDIT: a bit more on-topic, Baba is You is a good example of the bouba-kiki effect; you kind of expect Baba to be round and fluffier than Keke, and that's exactly what you get.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[–] [email protected] 12 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Its actually not instant. Splashing cold water sounds harder than hot water, its called the bouba-kiki linear tranformation. Trust me bro.

[–] isaaclyman 4 points 15 hours ago

And at 100C, it changes phase to Heeheehoo. Lotta people don’t know that