Auditory imagery associated with Japanese onomatopoeic representation

When we want to express the subjective impression of sound, we usually use onomatopoeias. We investigated the relationship between the impression of auditory imagery associated with Japanese onomatopoeic representation and onomatopoeic features. Subjects rated the impressions of auditory imageries associated with 40 onomatopoeias on semantic differential scales. Principal component analysis was applied to the rating data and the scales were integrated to the components of beauty, potency and sharpness. We determined the relationship between phonetic features of onomatopoeias and tonal features of the auditory imageries on the obtained principal components. Onomatopoeic representations that included voiced consonants were associated with a 'dirty' impression. Onomatopoeic representations that contained approximant sounds were associated with a 'powerful' impression. The vowel /i/ was associated with a 'sharp' impression and vowels /u/ and /o/ were associated with a 'dull' impression. The obtained tendencies confirmed that some onomatopoeic features reflected particular impressions of auditory imagery.