Sound symbolism facilitates interspecies communication between humans and domestic dogs (Canis familiaris).

ABSTRACT: The evolution of human communication likely centred, in part, on shared intuitions about the mapping of sound to meaning. These sound-meaning intuitions, known as sound symbolism, can be seen for example in the bouba-kiki effect, where nonsense words carry inherent meaning about their likely referents (here, rounded vs. angular objects respectively). In our paper we suggest for the first time that sound symbolism can afford successful interspecies communication between humans and animals in certain circumstances. Over four investigations, including replications, we show that humans use sound symbolism significantly and pervasively to attempt to convey meaning to domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), specifically, by exploiting vocal prosody to signal elevation in space. In Study 1 we analysed

SUBMITTER: Korzeniowska AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12606319 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature