U.S. English-Speaking Children and Adults Exhibit a 'Gleam-Glum' Sound Symbolic Effect Linking Phonemic Vowel Sounds with Emotional Valence
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| Title: | U.S. English-Speaking Children and Adults Exhibit a 'Gleam-Glum' Sound Symbolic Effect Linking Phonemic Vowel Sounds with Emotional Valence |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Ye Li (ORCID |
| Source: | Cognitive Science. 2026 50(4). |
| Availability: | Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 27 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Adults, Children, Phonemes, Emotional Response, Language Acquisition, Language Usage, English, Comprehension, Linguistic Competence, Linguistic Input, Age Differences, Syntax |
| Geographic Terms: | Arizona (Phoenix) |
| DOI: | 10.1111/cogs.70215 |
| ISSN: | 0364-0213 1551-6709 |
| Abstract: | We tested a recently-found sound symbolic effect, the "gleam-glum effect," in which words with the [i]-phoneme (like "gleam") are perceived as emotionally more positive than matched words with the [Ʌ]-phoneme (like "glum"). We extend prior work and verify this effect using a novel online pseudoword-to-scene matching task, testing U.S. English-speaking adults (n = 105) and 5- to 7-year-old children (n = 52). Participants heard pairs of matched [i]- versus [Ʌ]-monosyllabic pseudowords (e.g., "zeem" versus "zum") and assigned them to cartoon scenes exhibiting contrasting emotional valence (positive versus negative). These results provide the first empirical evidence that the gleam-glum effect is robust across both young children and adults, with the effect magnitude somewhat less in children of this age compared to adults. Our findings confirm that the gleam-glum effect is already strong at an early age and holds promise of being an important mechanism for language comprehension, language use, and language learning. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Notes: | https://osf.io/yqd6g |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1504381 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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