title: Iconicity in the lab: a review of behavioral, developmental, and neuroimaging research into sound-symbolism.
abstract: This review covers experimental approaches to sound-symbolism-from infants to adults, and from Sapir's foundational studies to twenty-first century product naming. It synthesizes recent behavioral, developmental, and neuroimaging work into a systematic overview of the cross-modal correspondences that underpin iconic links between form and meaning. It also identifies open questions and opportunities, showing how the future course of experimental iconicity research can benefit from an integrated interdisciplinary perspective. Combining insights from psychology and neuroscience with evidence from natural languages provides us with opportunities for the experimental investigation of the role of sound-symbolism in language learning, language processing, and communication. The review finishes by describing how hypothesis-testing and model-building will help contribute to a cumulative science of sound-symbolism in human language.
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology of Language Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics , Nijmegen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gwilym
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lockwood
authors.affiliation: Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics , Nijmegen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dingemanse
keywords: cross-modal correspondence; iconicity; ideophones; linguistics; neuroimaging; psycholinguistics; sound-symbolism; synesthesia