sound symbolism and features

[Johanna Rubba]

Hi, everybody. I've been following the computation/storage discussion with
interest. I have a question in a different area.

I'm teaching a grad intro ling course for people interested mainly in
literature, and I do a lot of ling. analysis of lit. in this class (which
is loads of fun, by the way!) We're just finishing our unit on phonology
and I've been cruising around the web for stuff on sound symbolism. Maybe
some of you know of some sources on a very specific area I am interested
in: the correlation of particular _distinctive features_ with properties
in other sensory domains (e.g. of +continuant with 'smooth' or 'velarized'
with 'dark'). I know that _segments_ have received lots of attention, and
I've seen some initial signs of work with features on commercial websites
(creators of corporate names and brand names). Does anyone know of work
that seeks empirical confirmation of cross-modal associations for
particular _features_ rather than segments (by, for example, manipulating
feature makeup of sounds/words and surveying scientifically-sound subject
pools for consistency of association)? Work being done across cultures
would, of course, be really interesting.

Thanks for any leads you can offer!

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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics              ~
English Department, California Polytechnic State University   ~
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407                                     ~
Tel. (805)-756-2184     Fax: (805)-756-6374                   ~
E-mail: jrubba at polymail.calpoly.edu                           ~
Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba                     ~
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