Pokémonastics Research Evolution

A Sound Symbolic Journey Through Pokémon Names

1
The Beginning
2016-2018
Kawahara, Noto & Kumagai (2018) - Phonetica
Kawahara Shigeto • Noto Atsushi • Kumagai Gakuji
The very first study analyzing existing Pokémon names in Japanese, discovering correlations between voiced obstruents/name length and Pokémon parameters (weight, height, evolution).
Foundational Japanese Corpus Analysis
Educational Applications
Kawahara Shigeto
Introducing phonetics through sound symbolism (Kawahara 2017, 2019) - using Pokémon as a 'hook' to attract student interest.
Education Public Outreach
2
Experimental Explorations
2017-2019
Productivity Testing with Nonce Names
Kawahara Shigeto • Kumagai Gakuji
First experimental studies using artificial Pokémon names (Kawahara & Kumagai 2019, Kumagai & Kawahara 2019) to test if sound symbolic patterns are productive.
Experiment Nonce Words MaxEnt Model
Multi-dimensional Sound Symbolism
Kawahara Shigeto • Kumagai Gakuji
Testing whether weight, height, and strength can be signaled by voiced obstruents (Kawahara & Kumagai 2021), inspired by Winter et al. (2019).
Multi-dimensional Weight/Height Strength
Developmental Studies
Kawahara Shigeto • Isobe Miwa et al.
Testing sound symbolic patterns with preschoolers (Kawahara et al. 2018a) to explore developmental aspects.
Development Children
3
Going Beyond Japanese
2018-2022
Multi-language Analysis
Stephanie Shih • Jordan Ackerman 他
Analysis of Pokémon names in Cantonese, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Russian (Shih et al. 2019). Term "Pokémonastics" coined by Shih.
Multi-linguistic Cross-cultural Comparative
English Speaker Experiments
Kawahara Shigeto • Jeff Moore
Nonce-word experiments with English speakers (Kawahara & Moore 2021), followed by cumulativity studies with Canaan Breiss.
English Cumulativity
Brazilian Portuguese & Russian
Mahayana Godoy • Kumagai Gakuji
Studies with Brazilian Portuguese speakers (Godoy et al. 2020) and Russian speakers (Kumagai & Kawahara 2022), exploring diverse phonetic features.
Portuguese Russian Georgian
4
Theoretical Integration
2020-2024
Why Phonologists Should Care
Kawahara Shigeto
Arguing for the importance of sound symbolism in theoretical phonology (Kawahara 2020b), exploring phonetic grounding and input-output mappings.
Theory Phonology Integration
MaxEnt & Wug-shaped Curves
Kawahara Shigeto
Testing quantitative predictions of MaxEnt models (Kawahara 2020d, 2021b), creating stripy wug-shaped curves in sound symbolism.
MaxEnt Wug-curves Quantitative
Counting vs. Non-counting
川原繁人 • 熊谷学而
Showing that sound symbolism can count segments while phonology cannot (Kawahara & Kumagai 2024), challenging traditional boundaries.
Counting Cumulativity Boundary
5
Beyond Names: Types & Applications
2018-Present
Pokémon Type Prediction
Hosokawa Yuta • Atsumi Naho et al.
Analyzing sound symbolism in Pokémon types - bilabials in fairy types, voiced obstruents in villainous types (Hosokawa et al. 2018, Kawahara & Kumagai 2019b).
Types Prediction Student-led
Flying Types & Ancient Wisdom
Kawahara Shigeto • Mahayana Godoy • Kumagai Gakuji
Testing ancient claims about sibilants and wind/sky/flying (Kawahara et al. 2020a), accidentally getting 700+ participants overnight!
Flying Sibilants Ancient wisdom
Friendship & Bouba-Kiki
Alexander Kilpatrick • Kawahara Shigeto
Analyzing base friendship parameters across languages (Kilpatrick et al. 2023b) and testing bouba-kiki effect with Pokémon shapes (Kawahara 2021a).
Friendship Bouba-kiki Shape
Cross-linguistic Universal Finding
Japanese
English
Portuguese
Russian
Georgian

Voiced obstruents universally associated with post-evolution Pokémon names
Possible basis: oral cavity expansion and low frequency energy

Future Research Directions
New Languages
German (Cwiek 2022), more diverse linguistic families
Phonological Alternations
Can sound symbolism cause phonological changes?
Computational Methods
Random forest, machine learning approaches
Educational Applications
Expanding pedagogical uses worldwide