Iconicity and Sound Symbolism
Across Acoustics · Aug 2025
Listen →Media
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about this work outside the lab too: in interviews, on radio and podcasts, and in the press, in Polish, English and German. Most of it comes back to one question: whether the sound of a word or the shape of a gesture can carry its meaning. A selection is below.
Selected
All appearances
Showing 31 of 31
Radio The Early Edition (CKFR), Kelowna, Canada · May 2026
Live interview about the bouba-kiki effect
Recording available upon request
Press Scientific American · Feb 2026
‘Mind-blowing’ baby chick study challenges a theory of how humans evolved language
Read → Podcast Across Acoustics · Aug 2025
Iconicity and Sound Symbolism
Listen → Podcast Radio Tok FM · Aug 2025
Ikoniczne słowa. O podobieństwie dźwięku do tego, co oznacza
Listen → Press Gazeta Wyborcza · Jul 2025
Językoznawczyni: większość ludzi intuicyjnie łączy obłe kształty ze słowem „bouba”
Read → Podcast Radio RDC · Jul 2025
Podcast “Z innej planety”
Listen → Radio radioeins · Jan 2025
Die Profis – live radio interview
Listen → Press Tagesspiegel · Jan 2025
Rrrrrrrrrrrr: Warum wir weltweit dasselbe bei diesem Laut fühlen
Read → Press Scientific American · Dec 2024
Eight Fascinating Things We Learned about Language in 2024
Read → Press Scientific American · Nov 2024
Ouch! Linguists Find Universal Language for Pain
Read → Video YouTube · 2024
DGfS macht Schule #13: Ikonizität und Multimodalität
Watch → Podcast Scientific American · Feb 2022
What Is the Shape of This Word? – podcast interview
Listen → Press Vice · Feb 2022
Why Are Letters Shaped the Way They Are?
Read → Press Chemical & Engineering News · Jan 2022
How shapes sound and how sounds shove
Read → Radio BBC Radio 4 · Nov 2021
BBC Inside Science – radio interview
Listen → Press Radio Canada · Nov 2021
L’effet « bouba/kiki » confirmé dans plus de 20 langues
Read → Press Science Magazine · Nov 2021
Nonsense words make people around the world think of the same shapes
Read → Press EOS Wetenschap · Nov 2021
Sterke connectie tussen ‘nonsenswoorden’ en mentale beelden bestaat in alle talen
Read → Press Euronews Culture · Nov 2021
What is the Bouba/Kiki effect and what does it mean for the origins of language?
Read → Press Scientific American · Sep 2021
Made-Up Sounds Convey Meaning across Cultures
Read → Radio Imperial College Radio · Aug 2021
Radio interview
Recording available upon request
Press Berliner Zeitung · Jun 2021
Berliner Forscher: Sprache ist auch aus Lautmalereien entstanden
Read → Press Language Magazine · May 2021
‘Iconic’ Sounds May Be Missing Link to Language
Read → Press ScientificInquirer · May 2021
Iconic vocalizations may have been precursor to language
Link not available
Press science ORF.at · May 2021
Lautmalereien werden überall verstanden
Read → Press Science Magazine · May 2021
No shared language? No problem! People understand clues from ‘vocal charades’
Read → Press wissenschaft.de · May 2021
Prägten Lautmalereien die Sprachevolution?
Read → Radio Deutschlandfunk · May 2021
Universelle Geräusche sagen mehr als Worte – radio interview
Listen → Radio MDR Kultur · May 2021
Verstehen ohne Worte: Der Ursprung der Sprache – radio interview
Listen → Press ZAS Berlin · 2020
Interview mit unserer Doktorandin Aleksandra Ćwiek
Read → Radio Radio NRW · Aug 2019
Das FlicFlac Problem – radio interview
Recording available upon request
Nothing of this type.