The comprehension of synesthetic expressions with onomatopeic words. Yukiyasu YAGUCHI (Graduate School of Humanities, Hosei University)

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1 The comprehension of synesthetic expressions with onomatopeic words Yukiyasu YAGUCHI (Graduate School of Humanities, Hosei University) Synesthetic expressions combine words that belong to di#erent sensory modalities. It is known that the understanding of synesthetic expressions is influenced by how the modalities are combined. However, expressions that use onomatopoeic words have not been examined to date, even though onomatopoeic words are synesthetic words. The present study examines comprehensible combinations of sensory modalities within synesthetic expressions that employ onomatopoeic words. In Experiment 1, the participants were asked to evaluate the sensory relevances of 47 onomatopoeic words. The results indicate that 39 of the onomatopoeic words are related to one of the five modalities (vision, hearing, touch, taste, and olfaction). In Experiment 2, the participants were asked to evaluate the degree to which 195 synesthetic expressions were comprehensible. The results indicate that, in principle, modification of high-modal words by lower-modal words can be understood. In addition, hearing was found to be independent of the other modalities within the structure of modification. Key words : Onomatopoeic words, Sensory relevance, Synesthetic expressions (1999) (2007) (2005) (2007) 4 (2005) (1980) 2005 (2009) (51) 119

2 8 2 (2006) Ullmann (1959) Williams (1976) (1988) (1988) (1988) (1988) Marks (1982a, b) (1988) (1999) (ERP) N400 (1988) (1988) (1988) (1999) 1 120

3 (2006) (2006) MD (2006) (1999) 2 (1988) (1988) Table 1 ABAB AB SD0.98 A B (2006) A B A 23 3 B (Table 1)

4 8 2 Table 1 Mean scores of sensory relevance of 47 onomatopoeic words Vision Hearing Touch Taste Olfaction First group Second group Third group Fourth group The values more than a standard value(4) were painted out. 122

5 (Figure 1).1 5 (F(4, 152)40.59, p.05), Bon#eroni (p.05; Figure 1) Table 1 39 Table1 Ward Figure 2 Figure 1. Mean score of 39 onomatopoeic words. F(4, 38)10.39, p.05 F(4, 38)17.11, p.05; F(4,38)44.63, p.01; F(4, 38)19.95, p.05; F(4, 38)33.86 p Ullmann (1959) Williams (1976) (1988) Figure 2 (1988)

6 8 2 Figure 2. Result of the cluster analysis Table Ullmann (1959) Williams (1976) (1988) 124

7 Table 2 Mean scores of intelligibility of 195 synesthetic expressions Vision Hearing Touch Taste Olfaction Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

8 8 2 Figure 3. Construction of comprehensible combination of senses. This indicate mean scores of construction more than (1988) Figure (1999) 3 2 Table 1 12 Figure 2 (1988) (1988) 126

9 Figure 3 12 Table Table (1988) (1988) (1997) (2000) (2000) 127

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