Sound Symbolism of Vowel Metaphors in Choral Pedagogy

Singers face the daunting task of learning how to precisely control parts of their body that they cannot see. As a result, vocal pedagogy relies heavily on metaphorical language. This thesis will investigate 10 such adjectives used to describe, teach, and elicit vowel sounds in choral singing: “bright”, “dark”, “wide”, “narrow”, “open”, “closed”, “warm”, “harsh”, “rich”, and “thin.” This thesis seeks to discover if these vowel metaphors have specific acoustic and thus corresponding articulatory correlates in a sound symbolic capacity. A survey was conducted to assess judgments of sung vowels with respect to each vowel metaphor. Judgments were analyzed with respect to F1, F2, F3, and musician identity. Significant acoustic correlates were found for all 10 adjectives. The results of this study have important implications for vocal pedagogy, the perception of singing, and sound symbolism at large.