Kiki Bouba | words-in-bloom

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Language Instinct

Discovered

"Kiki"

"Bouba"

95% of people said the nonsense word "kiki" matched the spiky shape, and "bouba" matched the bubbly shape.

V. Ramachandran and E. Hubbard ( 2001). Journal of Consciousness Studies v8, p19.

David Robson (2011). Kiki or Bouba? In search of language’s missing link. New Scientist. July 13, 2011.

Dictionary.com (2013). Where do words come from? Do they really mean anything? January 16, 2013.

Dictionary.com (2013). Was Saussure Wrong? January 23, 2013.

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