This question was asked to American college students and Tamil speakers in India and more than 95% of people gave the same response. I did too.

受訪的美國大學生和印度語使用者超過 95% 的人答案都一樣，我也是。

People thought the bouba was soft and rounded and the kiki was sharp and jagged.

大家認為「布巴」圓滑柔軟，「奇奇」尖銳不平。

Psychologists call it the bouba/kiki effect.

心理學家稱之為「布巴/奇奇效應」。

It's not baby talk, it shows we can draw meaning from things without… "meaning".

這不是無稽之談，代表我們能憑空產生意義。

And even when we're talking to someone in the same language, our body language, tone, pitch and accent convey information beyond what we intend.

即使以相同語言交談，我們的肢體、語氣、聲調與口音，透露的訊息比我們想像得還多。

I think a lot about accents because it seems, at least to some of YOUR ears, that I have an accent. I've certainly never noticed it.

我對口音特別有興趣，因為對大多數人而言，至少對你們有些人而言，我似乎有口音，我卻從來沒注意到。

Accents develop because people living in close proximity grow to share a way of speaking and we have an own-accent bias.

口音是住在鄰近區域的人，互相發展出的說話方式，我們對自己的口音會產生偏好。

Studies have shown that even one-year-old babies have a preference for sounds of the language spoken in their home.

研究發現，即使一歲嬰兒也偏好在家中常聽到的口音。

But, why does the English speaking world have so many accents in the first place?

但是，英語一開始如何發展出各種口音呢？

If England colonised South Africa, Australia, Canada and the United States, there must have been a point where the British descendants lost their English accent and developed a local way of speaking.

英國曾殖民南非、澳州、加拿大和美國，那麼一定有英國口音被當地口音取代的時間點。

Everyone always forgets about New Zealand.

大家都忘了紐西蘭。

The records are kind of sketchy.

資料有些粗略。

The first settlement in America was in 1607, but the first voice records we have are from the late 1800s.

英國 1607 年起殖民美國，而現存最早的音訊出現在 19 世紀末。

Somewhere in that time of 200 odd years across the Atlantic, accents changed.

大約在 200 多年前橫越大西洋的時候，口音改變了。

In England it became fashionable to pronounce a soft "r", to have a non-rhetoric accent, so hard sounds like hahd.

在英國流行將輕柔的「r」音發成不捲舌的重音，「hard」聽起來像「hahd」。

And in America they retained their rhetoric accent so hard has a hard "r".

而在美國捲舌音保留，所以「hard」中「r」的發音明顯。

So it makes sense that accents in countries colonised later, like Australia, are non-rhetoric.

那之後被殖民的國家，如澳州，有不捲舌的口音就說得通了。

Like this one.

就像我的口音。

And the way you talk can carry information about your level of education, ethnicity and socio-economic status.

說話方式也透露某些資訊，如教育程度、國藉及社經地位。

It's not always accurate but it can affect people's perceptions.

雖然不一定正確但會影響別人的觀感。

One study at The University of Chicago looked at the effects that accents have on credibility.

芝加哥大學研究口音與可信度的關係。

When a person with an accent made a factual statement say, “A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can.”

如果有口音的人陳述一件事實：「長頸鹿比駱駝更耐渴。」

People were less likely to believe it was true.

大家會懷疑其所言為真。

And the heavier the accent, the less believable they were perceived to be.

口音越重的人越不被信任。

Another study in the UK found people were more likely to rate a suspect as guilty if they had a regional English accent compared to a London accent.

另一項英國研究顯示，若嫌犯有地區性的英國口音，多數人容易認定這個嫌犯有罪。

Come to think of it, a lot of bad guys in American movies have foreign accents.

想想，許多美國電影裡的壞人都有外國口音。

"You have 13 hours in which to solve the Labarynth."

「你有 13 個小時走出迷宮。」

"This is just how your father looked before he died."

「這就是你父親臨死前的樣子。」

"I can't understand a word you said the whole time."

「你說什麼我一個字都聽不懂。」

"I think what you are hearing is my accent."

「我想你聽到的是我的口音。」

When we hear our own accents we have a positive-bias towards the prosody, that's the rhythm, stress and intonation of speech.

我們熟悉自己的口音，會對這種韻律，也就是節奏和語調，產生正面偏見。

Because you like how someone talks, when you're processing what they say your brain regions involved with emotions are involved.

當你喜歡某些人的說話方式，在聆聽他說話時，大腦中處理情緒的區域被啟動。

It's called affective processing.

我們稱之為「情感處理系統」。

When you like one thing and it causes you like another thing even more without you realizing.

所以你的口音偏好不知不覺讓你更喜歡這個人。

While we favour those from our own groups, with the internet having it's own social groups and dialect, what is "our own group" these days anyway?

當我們比較喜歡那些我們自己的族群時，在現在網路普及下，我們有自己的社交族群跟自成體系的用語，那所謂「我們自己人」又是什麼呢？

With so much ambiguity, it's almost like we need a universal, accent-free language.

如此模稜兩可，看來我們需要一個無口音的通用語言啊！

In case you were wondering a giraffe can last longer without water than a camel can.

你還在懷疑長頸鹿真的比駱駝耐渴嗎？

Just trust me.

就相信我吧！