U.S. English-speaking children and adults exhibit a "Gleam-Glum" sound symbolic effect linking phonemic vowel sounds with emotional valence.

The article focuses on research investigating the "gleam-glum effect," a sound symbolic phenomenon where words containing the [i]-phoneme (e.g., "gleam") are perceived as more emotionally positive than matched words with the [?]-phoneme (e.g., "glum"). Using an online pseudoword-to-scene matching task, the study tested U.S. English-speaking adults (n=105) and children aged 5 to 7 (n=52), finding that both groups consistently associated [i]-phoneme pseudowords with positive emotional scenes and [?]-phoneme pseudowords with negative scenes. The effect was robust across ages but somewhat weaker in children, suggesting it emerges early and may play a role in language comprehension and learning. This research is based on a preprint that has not yet undergone peer review. [Extracted from the article]