Sound symbolism—systematic associations between sounds and meanings—had not been a topic that was actively explored in the generative tradition. In my recent research, however, I argue that formal phonology can benefit from perspectives and insights offered by research on sound symbolism, and vice versa. In this talk, I illustrate this thesis based on a new research paradigm, dubbed “Pokémonastics” (Kawahara et al. 2018; Shih et al. 2019), in which researchers explore the nature of sound symbolism in human languages using Pokémon names. In this talk, I am going to review (1) how Pokémonastics began, (2) why it is a useful research strategy, (3) what we have found so far, and (4) what more needs to be done.
Prochains événements
Voir la liste d'événementsSRPP 30/01/2026 Alexei Kochetov
Alexei Kochetov (University of Toronto)
SRPP 06/02/2026 Cédric Patin
Cédric Patin (Université de Lille)
SRPP 20/02/2026 Takayuki Nagamine
Takayuki Nagamine (UCL)


