Ever heard of the names “kiko” and “bouba”?
These are made-up nouns that scientists invented to test how we link images to language. When people are shown a blobby shape and a spiky shape, then asked which one suits “kiko” and which is a better match for “bouba”, they overwhelmingly dub the round one “bouba”.
Its sharper sibling is often seen as more of a “kiko”, meanwhile. This result is consistent across languages and cultures.
And it seems a similar phenomenon called the “mil/mal effect” might even change how we choose our food.
What is the “mil/mal effect”?
This means that people usually associate sounds like “ee” and “t” with smaller sizes, while words with broader “b” and “oh” noises are perceived as relating to bigger objects.
For instance, people might be likelier to think a table called...
English (US)