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Phonetics Neurolinguistics Psycholinguistics

Why Is This Shape “Bouba” and That One “Kiki”? The Surprising Science of Sound Symbolism

Estimated read time 6 min read

Have you ever wondered why a spiky shape just *feels* like a “Kiki” and a rounded one a “Bouba”? This isn’t a mere coincidence; it’s a window into the science of sound symbolism, a phenomenon that challenges long-held beliefs about the arbitrary nature of language. Discover how this simple test reveals the brain’s deep, intuitive connections between the sounds we hear and the shapes we see.