One of these shapes is called “bouba”.

其中一種形狀被稱為 "bouba"。

The other is called  “kiki”. Which is which?

另一個被稱為 "琪琪"。哪個是哪個？

This was invented in 1929,  using slightly different words,

這是在1929年發明的，使用的詞語略有不同。

and it's been refined over time.

而且隨著時間的推移，它已經得到了完善。

For most people, the  pointy shape is "kiki"

對大多數人來說，尖尖的形狀是 "琪琪"。

and the rounded shape is "bouba."

和圓形的形狀是 "bouba"。

The majority of studies…

大多數的研究...

Wow, that is a lot of citations.

哇，那是一個很大的引證。

The majority of studies find that  pointy shapes are more associated with

大多數研究發現，尖尖的形狀與以下情況更相關

unvoiced plosives and front  vowels: so “ta, pi, ka”,

無聲複音和前元音：所以 "ta, pi, ka"。

and round shapes are associated with

和圓形的形狀是與

voiced plosives, nasals, and  back vowels, so, “bou, gǝ, no”.

聲母、鼻音和後元音，所以，"bou, gǝ, no"。

Okay, sure, but that's  just English, right?

好吧，當然，但這只是英語，對嗎？

We have words like  'point' and 'balloon',

我們有'點'和'氣球'這樣的詞。

maybe we're just copying the  associations from the words  

也許我們只是在複製文字中的聯想

we already know.

我們已經知道。

One of the founders  of modern linguistics  

現代語言學的創始人之一

has an entire theory named after him,

有一個完整的理論以他的名字命名。

about there being no  relation between the  

之間沒有任何關係。

form of a word and what it represents.

一個詞的形式和它所代表的內容。

But: there's a study  where English speakers

但是：有一項研究，說英語的人

were given pairs of words  in a language from Peru.

他們得到了祕魯語言中的幾對單詞。

In each pair,

在每一對。

one word was for a bird,  and one was for a fish.

一個字是指鳥，一個字是指魚。

And the English speakers,  who didn't know the language,

還有那些講英語的人，他們不懂這門語言。

who knew nothing even  close to the language…

他對這門語言一無所知...

they could sort those  words into birds and fish  

他們可以把這些詞分為鳥類和魚類

a little bit better than chance.

比機會好一點。

Not well, but out of hundreds of people  answering thousands of questions,

不是很好，而是從數以百計的人中回答數以千計的問題。

they got 58% right. That is a  statistically significant result.

他們答對了58%。這是一個具有統計學意義的結果。

And there's another study where  Hebrew speakers were given pairs of  

還有一項研究，給講希伯來語的人一對

Chinese characters with  opposite definitions,

釋義相反的漢字。

and asked to match up the  characters and definitions.

並要求將字元和定義匹配起來。

Again, slightly better than  chance, about 55% right.

同樣，比機會稍好，大約55%的正確率。

And if people who speak  different languages have even

而如果講不同語言的人甚至有

a slight ability to figure out  completely unfamiliar words,

對完全不熟悉的單詞有一點琢磨能力。

well, that raises the question,  

那麼，這就提出了一個問題。

do humans have some sort  of built-in associations

人類是否有某種內在的聯想

between sounds and symbols  and things in the real world?

在聲音和符號與現實世界的事物之間？

“Bouba” and “kiki” have been tested  in a lot of languages, and, yeah,

"Bouba "和 "kiki "已經在很多語言中進行了測試，而且，是的。

there seems to be something there,

似乎有什麼東西在那裡。

what researchers call a type of  "crossmodal correspondence" or  

研究人員稱之為一種 "跨模式的對應關係 "或

"sound symbolism."

"聲音象徵主義"。

Correlations between  phonemes, the sounds we make,

音素、我們發出的聲音之間的相關性。

and traits like shape, texture,  brightness, size, or even taste.

以及形狀、質地、亮度、大小、甚至味道等特徵。

Maybe that's down to cross-activation  between brain regions:

也許那是由於大腦區域之間的交叉激活。

researchers into synaesthesia  have spent a long time on that.

研究共鳴的研究人員在這方面花了很長時間。

Or it could be repeated association.

也可能是重複聯想。

An elephant makes a  deeper sound than a mouse.

大象發出的聲音比老鼠更深沉。

A large dog usually barks lower  and longer than a small dog.

大型犬通常比小型犬叫得更低、更長。

If you shout into a big, round cave,

如果你對著一個大而圓的山洞大喊大叫。

it'll reflect back deep,  round, resonating tones.

它將反射出深沉、圓潤、共鳴的音調。

Shout into a tiny cave with  a lot of sharp angles in it

對著一個有很多尖角的小山洞喊話

and you'll hear higher, sharper tones.

你會聽到更高、更尖銳的音調。

Something hard and brittle is more  likely to make a sharp 'kh' sound,

硬而脆的東西更有可能發出尖銳的'kh'聲。

something like 'kiki', when you  hit it or break it or shatter it;

像'Kiki'這樣的東西，當你擊中它或打破它或打碎它。

something soft and round is more  likely to make a noise like “bouba”.

軟而圓的東西更有可能發出 "bouba "這樣的聲音。

I need to stress this is one  theory from a couple of papers,

我需要強調的是，這只是幾篇論文中的一個理論。

don't take this as gospel, it's  right to be skeptical about that.

不要把這當作福音，對此持懷疑態度是對的。

Plus, it doesn't always work.

此外，它並不總是有效。

A paper from 1975 shows the results of a  

1975年的一篇論文顯示了一個

bouba-kiki style test on Songe  speakers in Papua New Guinea,

在巴巴新幾內亞，對講Songe語的人進行bouba-kiki式測試。

where the results were like they were  picking at random. No preference.

其中的結果就像他們在隨機挑選。沒有偏好。

And in 2017, another test on Syuba  speakers in Nepal, again: no preference.

而在2017年，在尼泊爾對講Syuba語的人進行了另一次測試，同樣：沒有偏好。

The likely reason is that  the nonsense words they chose  

可能的原因是，他們選擇的胡言亂語

could not exist in those languages.

在這些語言中不可能存在。

It'd be like giving English  speakers a test to choose between  

這就像給講英語的人做一個測試，讓他們在以下幾個方面做出選擇

“ŋoba” and “tlet”.

"ŋoba "和 "tlet"。

You can't start a word  with ŋ or tl in English,

在英語中不能用ŋ或tl開頭的詞。

so the choice doesn't make sense.

所以這個選擇是沒有意義的。

The frustrating thing is: there  isn't much data on the failures.

令人沮喪的是：沒有多少關於失敗的數據。

Researchers often don't  publish their negative results,

研究人員往往不公佈他們的負面結果。

and besides it's very difficult and  very expensive to give linguistic tests

此外，進行語言測試是非常困難和昂貴的。

to people who've never been exposed  to any of the major world languages.

對那些從未接觸過世界上任何主要語言的人來說。

But according to all those studies,

但根據所有這些研究。

that bouba/kiki distinction  is true for most people.

對大多數人來說，bouba/kiki的區別是真實的。

There may be a link between some  sounds and some real-world properties.

一些聲音和一些現實世界的屬性之間可能存在著聯繫。

And that may be why English  speakers were able to distinguish

這可能就是為什麼說英語的人能夠分辨出

birds and fish in that  Peruvian language:

祕魯語言中的鳥和魚。

the birds' names had more high,  front, non‐rounded vowels:

鳥類的名字有更多的高、前、非圓的元音。

/i/ and /e/, they had  more “sharp sounds”.

/i/和/e/，它們有更多的 "尖銳聲音"。

And while there are  plenty of exceptions,

雖然也有很多例外情況。

birds have more sharp beaks and  claws than your average fish does.

鳥類的喙和爪子比普通的魚更鋒利。