ВОПРОСЫ ОНОМАСТИКИ | PROBLEMS OF ONOMASTICS

Lorena Pérez-Hernández
University of La Rioja, Logroño (La Rioja), Spain

HYPOCORISMS MEET SOUND SYMBOLISM: A SOCIO-ONOMASTIC STUDY OF SPANISH HYPOCORISTIC FORMS OF PERSONAL NAMES IN -I

For citation
Pérez-Hernández, L. (2024). Hypocorisms Meet Sound Symbolism: A Socio-Onomastic Study of Spanish Hypocoristic Forms of Personal Names in -i. Voprosy onomastiki, 21(1), 72–95. https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2024.21.1.003

Received on 21 March 2023
Accepted on 25 August 2023

Abstract: The suffix -i has been regarded as a gender-neutral morpheme that communicates affection in Spanish. Previous studies have shown this diminutive morpheme to be more productive in relation to female hypocorisms. There are, however, many Spanish proper names for which there exist pairs of alternative hypocorisms (e.g. Antonia > Toña/Toñi; Antonio > Toño/Toni). This paper compares the potentiality of the suffix -i to build hypocorisms for both genders with its actual use by Spanish speakers over a four-generation time spam from Baby Boomers to Generation Z. It explores the connections between its sound symbolism and its pragmatics in order to assess its alleged gender neutrality over time. The paper is organized as follows. First, the author considers previous literature on sound symbolism and gender, together with a description of the theoretical tools used in the present investigation. Second, the paper describes the methodological decisions adopted for the present research, which include the design of a survey to assess the gender neutrality of the actual use of the hypocorisms by Spanish speakers. The cohort of informants includes 30 men and 30 women from different generations (50% Baby Boomers / Generation X and 50% Millennials / Generation Z). Finally, the author reports and discusses the results of the survey. These point to a preference for hypocorisms in -i for female names. Differences also arise in the use of hypocorisms in -i in relation to the gender and age of the speakers, signalling an incipient diversion from the traditional use of hypocorisms in -i for female names in previous generations.

Keywords: hypocorisms; gender; pragmatics; Spanish; sound symbolism; onomastics; first name

Acknowledgements
This publication is part of the R&D&i project PID2020-118349GB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Spain).

References

Ackermann, T., & Zimmer, Ch. (2021). The Sound of Gender. Correlations of Name Phonology and Gender across Languages. Linguistics, 59(4), 1143–1177. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0027

Aloufi, A. (2022). Phonetic Symbolism in First Names. Linguistics and Literature Studies, 10(6), 107–112. https://doi.org/10.13189/lls.2022.100601

Auracher, J. (2017). Sound Iconicity of Abstract Concepts: Place of Articulation is Implicitly Associated with Abstract Concepts of Size and Social Dominance. PLOS ONE, 12(11): Article e0187196. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0187196

Barry, H., & Harper, A. S. (1995). Increased Choice of Female Phonetic Attributes in First Names. Sex Roles, 32(11–12), 809–819. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01560190

Barton, D. N., & Halberstadt, J. (2018). A Social Bouba / Kiki effect: A Bias for People whose Names Match their Faces. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25, 1013–1020. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1304-x

Bodor, P., & Barcza, V. (2007). Acquisition of Diminutives in Hungarian. In I. Savickiené, & W. U. Dressler (Eds.), Acquisition of Diminutives. A Cross-Linguistic Perspective (pp. 231–263). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.43.10bod

Bolinger, D. (1984). Language: The Loaded Weapon. Longman: London.

Broverman, I. K., Vogel, S. R., Broverman, D. M., Clarkson, F. E., & Rosenkrantz, P. S. (1972). Sex-role Stereotypes: A Current Appraisal. Journal of Social Issues, 28(2), 59–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1972.tb00018.x

Cassidy, K. W., Kelly, M. H., & Sharoni, L. J. (1999). Inferring Gender from Name Phonology. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 128, 362–381. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.128.3.362

Crystal, D. (1991). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell: Oxford.

Cutler, A., McQueen, J., & Robinson, K. (1990). Elizabeth and John: Sound Patterns of Men’s and Women’s Names. Journal of Linguistics, 26, 471–482.

De Bruyne, J. (1995) Eutrapelías del Alfabeto Español. Madrid: Visor.

De Klerk, V., & Bosch, B. (1997). The Sound Patterns of English Nicknames. Language Sciences, 19(4), 289–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(96)00070-8

Elsen, H. (2016) Einführung in die Lautsymboolik. Berlin: Schmidt.

García-Page, M. (2018). El hipocorístico español en -i. Cahiers de lexicologie, 113(2), 227–252. https://doi.org/10.15122/ISBN.978-2-406-08791-5.P.0227

Hora, A., Ben-Zvi, G., Levie, R., & Ravid, D. (2007). Acquiring Diminutive Structures and Meanings in Hebrew. In I. Savickiené, & W. U. Dressler (Eds.), Acquisition of Diminutives. A Cross-Linguistic Perspective (pp. 295–318). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Klink, R. R. (2000). Creating Brand Names with Meaning: The Use of Sound Symbolism. Marketing Letters, 11(1), 5–20.

Köhler, W. (1929). Gestalt Psychology. New York, NY: Liveright.

Lieberson, S., & Bell, E. O. (1992). Children’s First Names: An Empirical Study of Social Taste. American Journal of Sociology, 98(3), 511–554.

Lockwood, G., & Dingemanse, M. (2015). Iconicity in the Lab: A Review of Behavioural, Developmental, and Neuroimaging Research into Sound-symbolism. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1246. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01246

Masuda, K. (2007). The Physical Basis for Phonological Iconicity. In E. Tabakowska, C. Ljungberg, & O. Fischer (Eds.), Insistent Images (pp. 57–72). Philadephia: John Benjamins.

Monzó Gallo, C. (2017). Hipocorísticos en -i: iconismo fonético de la afectividad. Revista Española de Lingüística, 47(2), 7–28.

Napoli, D. J. (1996). Linguistics. Oxford: OUP.

Newman, S. S. (1933). Further Experiments in Phonetic Symbolism. The American Journal of Psychology, 45(1), 53–75. https://doi.org/10.2307/1414186

Nübling, D. (2009). Von Monika zu Mia, von Norbert zu Noah: Zur androgynisierung der rufnamen seit 1945 auf prosodisch-phonologischer ebene. Beiträge zur Namenforschung, 44, 67–110.

Nübling, D. (2018). Luca und Noah — Das phonologische degendering von jungennamen seit der jahrtausenddswende. In D. Nübling, & S. Hirschauer (Eds.), Namen und Geschlechter: Sudien zum Onymischen Un/Doing Gender (pp. 239–270). Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110589122

Nübling, D., Fahlbusch, F., & Heuser, R. (2015) Namen: Eine Einführung in die Onomastik. Tübingen: Narr.

Oelkers, S. (2003). Naming Gender. Empirische Untersuchungen zur Phonologischen Struktur von Vornamen in Deutschen. Frankfurt am Main: Lang.

Ohtake, Y., & Haryu, E. (2013). Investigation of the Process Underpinning Vowel‐size Correspondence. Japanese Psychological Research, 55(4), 390–399. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpr.12029

Parise, C. V., & Spence, Ch. (2012). Audiovisual Cross-modal Correspondences and Sound Symbolism: A Study Using the Implicit Association Test. Experimental Brain Research, 220(3–4), 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3140-6

Pitcher, B. J., Mesoudi, A., & McElligott, A. G. (2013). Sex-biased Sound Symbolism in Englishlanguage First Names. PLoS ONE, 6, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064825

Sapir, E. (1929). A Study in Phonetic Sound Symbolism. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 225–239.

Sidhu, D. M., & Pexman, P. M. (2015). What’s in a Name? Sound Symbolism and Gender in first Names. PLOS ONE, 10(5): Article e0126809. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126809

Sidhu, D. M., & Pexman, P. M. (2017). A Prime Example of the Maluma/Takete Effect? Testing for Sound Symbolic Priming. Cognitive Science, 41(7), 1958–1987. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1111/cogs.12438

Sidhu, D. M., & Pexman, P. M. (2018). Five Mechanisms of Sound Symbolic Association. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25, 1619–1643. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1361-1

Sidhu, D. M., Pexman, P. M., & Saint-Aubin, J. (2016). From the Bob/Kirk Effect to the Benoit/Éric Effect: Testing the Mechanism of Name Sound Symbolism in Two Languages. Acta Psychologica, 169, 88–99. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.05.011

Slater, A. S., & Feinman, S. (1985) Gender and the Phonology of North American First Names. Sex Roles, 13(7–8), 429–440. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287953

Slepian, M. L., & Galinsky, A. D. (2016). The Voiced Pronunciation of Initial Phonemes Predicts the Gender of Names. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 509–527. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000041

Spence, J. T., & Helmreich, R. L. (1979). Masculinity and Femininity: Their Psychological Dimensions, Correlates, and Antecedents. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Tzeng, C. Y., Nygaard, L. C., & Namy, L. L. (2017). The Specificity of Sound Symbolic Correspondences in Spoken Language. Cognitive Science, 41(8), 2191–2220. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1111/cogs.12474

Whissell, C. (2001). Sound and Emotion in Given Names. Names, 49(2), 97–120. https://doi.org/10.1179/nam.2001.49.2.97