Fairy-Tale Character Names and Sound Symbolism: An Experimental Study of Back and Front Vowels in Kazakh

This study aims to experimentally investigate how the sound-symbolic functions of back (low) and front (high) vowels are realized through the semantics of fairy-tale characters. The experiment was conducted online using the Google Forms platform and involved 55 participants. As research material, six short fairy-tale-like texts were used, each describing semantically opposed characters (e.g., a brave Lion vs. a cowardly Rabbit, a strong Wolf vs. a weak Calf). After each text, participants were presented with pairs of artificial words that were phonologically contrasted: forms dominated by back vowels versus forms dominated by front vowels (e.g., bobobo vs. bibibi). Participants were asked to rate how well each artificial word matched the given character on a 5-point ordinal scale (1–5). The collected data were analyzed in the R statistical computing environment using non-parametric statistical methods. The results demonstrate that the effect of sound symbolism varies depending on character semantics. Artificial words dominated by back vowels were consistently rated higher for characters associated with “bravery”, “strength”, and “largeness”, whereas forms dominated by front vowels were preferred for characters associated with “cowardice,” “weakness,” and “smallness”. These differences were statistically significant. In contrast, characters related to movement speed showed an asymmetrical sound-symbolic effect, while no significant differences between back and front vowels were observed for light–dark imagery or texture-based characters. Overall, the findings indicate that the sound-symbolic potential of back and front vowels is dependent on the specific character image and its semantic domain.