this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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Linguistics Humor

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Do you like languages and linguistics ? Here is for having fun about it


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[–] [email protected] 43 points 6 days 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 6 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Oh, I didn't even notice this was in a linguistics community - I just saw it in the feed and thought it was an xkcd community 🥲

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Even here it's useful: there always will be people in the 10000 club, after all.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

BaBa is Melt

KeKe is Float

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

Wall is Stop

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days 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.

[–] dxc 2 points 6 days ago

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Let's have a kiki

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

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