{"id":3518,"date":"2019-05-09T11:10:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/"},"modified":"2023-04-19T11:06:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T18:06:58","slug":"pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n            \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  The movie <em>Pok\u00e9mon: Detective Pikachu<\/em> opens May 9. The names of the popular characters in the Pok\u00e9mon universe, including Pikachu, pictured, are helping USC Dornsife researchers unlock the mystery of sound symbolism in language. (Photos: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Planning to see the \u201cPok\u00e9mon: Detective Pikachu\u201d movie? You might find the popular media franchise holds lessons in how the human mind makes the connection between sounds and their meanings, according to research by USC Dornsife linguist Stephanie Shih.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Michelle Boston<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">May 9, 2019<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 4.0350274 1.058837 1.0874543 2.51831502 1.6884158 4.03502747 1.6884158 1.44087681 0 2.80427251-.5423678 3.86936601-1.5289606l.1656615-.1594552 2.2321428-2.2321428-1.6311813-1.6311813-2.2321429 2.26076c-.6581959.658196-1.5167124 1.0016026-2.43246332 1.0016026s-1.7742674-.3434066-2.43246337-1.0016026c-.65819597-.6581959-1.00160257-1.5167124-1.00160257-2.4324633 0-.8547009.2991453-1.6595442.87416905-2.2981957l.12743352-.1342677 2.23214286-2.2321429zm6.88661855-.40736607-5.26116068 5.26116075 1.61881868 1.6188186 5.2611607-5.2611607zm1.3837569-5.54501488c-1.4408768 0-2.8042725.54236779-3.869366 1.52896062l-.1656615.15945513-2.23214282 2.23214286 1.63118132 1.63118132 2.2321429-2.23214286c.6581959-.65819597 1.5167124-1.00160256 2.4324633-1.00160256s1.7742674.34340659 2.4324634 1.00160256 1.0016026 1.51671246 1.0016026 2.43246337c0 .85470089-.2991453 1.65954419-.8741691 2.29819559l-.1274335.1342678-2.2321429 2.2321428 1.5739469 1.5739469 2.2321429-2.2321428c1.0874542-1.058837 1.6884157-2.5183151 1.6884157-4.03502751 0-1.51671245-.6009615-2.94757326-1.6884157-4.03502747-1.058837-1.08745421-2.518315-1.68841575-4.0350275-1.68841575z\" transform=\"translate(-3 -3)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Copy Link<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                                <a class=\"a2a_button_facebook\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#facebook\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Facebook\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_facebook\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m23.9512 6h-16.9024c-.57923625 0-1.0488.46956375-1.0488 1.0488v16.9024c0 .5792362.46956375 1.0488 1.0488 1.0488h9.10024v-7.34768h-2.46772v-2.87584h2.46772v-2.11508c0-2.45404 1.49872-3.79012 3.68828-3.79012.7389668-.00263323 1.4775241.03516995 2.21236.11324v2.56348h-1.51392c-1.18788 0-1.4174.56544-1.4174 1.39612v1.8316h2.84772l-.37088 2.87584h-2.47684v7.34844h4.83284c.5792362 0 1.0488-.4695638 1.0488-1.0488v-16.9024c0-.57923625-.4695638-1.0488-1.0488-1.0488z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -6)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Facebook<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                                <a class=\"a2a_button_twitter\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#twitter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"X\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_twitter\">\n              <svg version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" x=\"0px\"\n\t y=\"0px\" viewBox=\"0 0 30 30\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 30 30\" xml:space=\"preserve\" width=\"19\" height=\"19\">\n<path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M14.5,16.2l-0.8-1.1l-6.3-9h2.7l5.1,7.3l0.8,1.1\n\tl6.6,9.4h-2.7L14.5,16.2L14.5,16.2z M16.9,13.4l7.4-8.7h-1.8l-6.5,7.5L11,4.8H5l7.8,11.4L5,25.2h1.8l6.8-7.9l5.5,7.9h6L16.9,13.4\n\tL16.9,13.4z\"\/>\n<\/svg>\n\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">X<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                                <a class=\"a2a_button_linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#linkedin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Linkedin\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_linkedin\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m25 21.4220779c0 1.974026-1.6038961 3.5779221-3.5779221 3.5779221h-11.84415582c-1.97402598 0-3.57792208-1.6038961-3.57792208-3.5779221v-11.84415582c0-1.97402598 1.6038961-3.57792208 3.57792208-3.57792208h11.84415582c1.974026 0 3.5779221 1.6038961 3.5779221 3.57792208zm-14.5584416-12.21428569c-.98701295 0-1.60389606.61688311-1.60389606 1.48051949-.12337663.8636364.49350649 1.4805195 1.48051946 1.4805195.987013 0 1.6038961-.6168831 1.6038961-1.4805195 0-.86363638-.6168831-1.48051949-1.4805195-1.48051949zm1.3571429 12.70779219v-8.6363636h-2.83766234v8.6363636zm10.2402597 0v-4.9350649c0-2.5909091-1.3571428-3.8246753-3.3311688-3.8246753-1.4805195 0-2.0974026.8636363-2.4675325 1.4805194v-1.2337662h-2.8376623v8.6363636h2.8376623v-4.9350649c0-.2467532 0-.4935065.1233767-.7402597.1233766-.4935065.6168831-.987013 1.4805194-.987013.987013 0 1.4805195.7402597 1.4805195 1.974026v4.564935z\" transform=\"translate(-6 -6)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">LinkedIn<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                                <a class=\"a2a_button_bluesky\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#bluesky\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Bluesky\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_bluesky\">\n              <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n                <path fill=\"#00000\" d=\"M12 10.8c-1.087-2.114-4.046-6.053-6.798-7.995C2.566.944 1.561 1.266.902 1.565C.139 1.908 0 3.08 0 3.768c0 .69.378 5.65.624 6.479c.815 2.736 3.713 3.66 6.383 3.364c.136-.02.275-.039.415-.056c-.138.022-.276.04-.415.056c-3.912.58-7.387 2.005-2.83 7.078c5.013 5.19 6.87-1.113 7.823-4.308c.953 3.195 2.05 9.271 7.733 4.308c4.267-4.308 1.172-6.498-2.74-7.078a8.741 8.741 0 0 1-.415-.056c.14.017.279.036.415.056c2.67.297 5.568-.628 6.383-3.364c.246-.828.624-5.79.624-6.478c0-.69-.139-1.861-.902-2.206c-.659-.298-1.664-.62-4.3 1.24C16.046 4.748 13.087 8.687 12 10.8\"  fill-rule=\"evenodd\" \/>\n              <\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Bluesky<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                                <a class=\"a2a_button_email\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#email\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"E-mail\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_print\">\n              <svg height=\"12\" viewBox=\"0 0 18 12\" width=\"18\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n  \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>This month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pokemon.com\/us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pok&eacute;mon<\/a> is hitting the big screen with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detectivepikachumovie.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Pok&eacute;mon: Detective Pikachu<\/i><\/a>. While eager fans of the animated franchise line up for tickets, researcher <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1080507\">Stephanie Shih<\/a> at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and her colleagues are taking a closer look at the linguistics of the Pok&eacute;mon universe to help them understand ways that the brain processes language.<\/p>\n<p>In human language, one of the underlying fundamentals is that there is no specific connection between the form of words and their meanings. In other words, the sound of a word doesn&rsquo;t inherently carry meaning. This allows for free expression and flexibility in languages.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are some instances where sounds do appear to signal meaning, a phenomenon called sound symbolism in which sounds are linked with specific shapes.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the word &ldquo;bouba&rdquo; might conjure up something large and round while &ldquo;kiki&rdquo; might make you think of a smaller, sharper object. These two words were actually shown to have those particular associations across different and unrelated languages in a series of studies by different linguists dating back to the 1920s.<\/p>\n<p>To dig deeper into the phenomenon, Shih and her colleagues are looking to <a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Category:Characters\" target=\"_blank\">Pok&eacute;mon character names<\/a> &mdash; or pokemonikers &mdash; as a dataset.<\/p>\n<p><strong>All in a name<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So why pokemonikers?<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;One of the challenges of studying patterns across languages is that not only are languages different from each other, how people perceive the world around them is different from culture to culture,&rdquo; Shih explained.<\/p>\n<p>With more than 800 Pok&eacute;mon characters, pokemonikers are a constant referent across many different languages, with slight reinvention from one language to the next.<\/p>\n<p>Also, Pok&eacute;mon characters are categorized by their physical characteristics &mdash; weight, height, color, among a host of other traits &mdash; and they metamorphize over the course of the game into a similar but stronger species. As their physical attributes evolve, so do their names, which is what makes them such a compelling dataset, says Shih. For instance, the character <a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Abra_(Pok%C3%A9mon)\" target=\"_blank\">Abra<\/a> grows and evolves into the more robust <a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Kadabra_(Pok%C3%A9mon)\" target=\"_blank\">Kadabra<\/a> and finally the larger and stronger <a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Alakazam_(Pok%C3%A9mon)\" target=\"_blank\">Alakazam<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Pok&eacute;verse in English and Japanese<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-landscape news-image-right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Pokemon-Pikachu_secondary_450x290-3013.jpg\" width=\"450\" height=\"290\"><\/p>\n<p>From left, Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, Detective Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) and Kathryn Newton as Lucy Stevens in Legendary Pictures&rsquo; and Warner Bros. Pictures&rsquo; comedy adventure <em>Pok&eacute;mon Detective Pikachu<\/em>, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/proceedings\/index.php\/PLSA\/article\/view\/4335\" target=\"_blank\">an initial study<\/a> looking at sound symbolism in English and Japanese, Shih and her colleagues found a tendency in both languages to encode the same attributes with sound symbolism.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, in both English and Japanese, the length of a Pok&eacute;mon character name correlates to the size and power of what it represents. Abra, the character and name, is smallest and has the least power, while Alakazam is largest and has the most power.<\/p>\n<p>In Japanese, a character&rsquo;s name and their weight correlated with three elements: more <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mora_(linguistics)\" target=\"_blank\">moras<\/a>, a unit of phonology similar to a syllable that cues stress and timing of a word&rsquo;s pronunciation; voiced <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Obstruent\" target=\"_blank\">obstruents<\/a>, a sound made by obstructing airflow from the mouth, like the &ldquo;d&rdquo; in &ldquo;duck&rdquo;; &nbsp;and back vowels, which are created when the tongue body reaches towards the back of the mouth, like the &ldquo;o&rdquo; in &ldquo;go.&rdquo; An example would be &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Mimikyu_(Pok%C3%A9mon)\">Mimikkyu<\/a>,&rdquo; a Pok&eacute;mon that weighs 1.5 pounds, versus &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Mudsdale_(Pok%C3%A9mon)\">Banbadoro<\/a>,&rdquo; a Pok&eacute;mon that weighs more than 2,000 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>In English, weight correlated with more word <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Segment_(linguistics)\" target=\"_blank\">segments<\/a> (consonants and vowels), voiced obstruents, and low vowels, the sound created when the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Think of the &ldquo;a&rdquo; in &ldquo;hat.&rdquo; An example would be &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Chingling_(Pok%C3%A9mon)\">Chingling<\/a>,&rdquo; a Pok&eacute;mon that weighs 1.3 pounds, versus &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Garbodor_(Pok%C3%A9mon)\">Garbodor<\/a>,&rdquo; a Pok&eacute;mon that weighs about 240 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the character traits that are more closely associated with sound symbolic patterns appear to be attributes that are central to achieving goals within the Pok&eacute;mon game. The study showed a character&rsquo;s weight, height, power and evolutionary state all have significant phonological correlates in both English and Japanese.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clues to how the mind processes language<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These findings help us understand more about how the mind operates.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It gives us a clue to the question: &lsquo;Are sound symbolisms something that we&rsquo;re born with in our cognitive system or is it something that gets learned from our exposure to our native languages?&rsquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It appears that we learn that these are sound symbolic patterns in our native languages and we&rsquo;re able to apply that knowledge,&rdquo; Shih explained. It also helps scientists understand why sound symbolism may occur in languages and what the most salient instances might be.<\/p>\n<p>Shih and her colleagues are continuing their work using pokemonikers in a larger study, done with an international team of scientists, that will also include an examination of sound symbolism in Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian and Korean.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/talkthetalkpodcast.com\/329-pokemonikers\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Listen to Shih talk more about the study<\/i><\/a><i> on the linguistics podcast <\/i>Talk the Talk<i>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Planning to see the \u201cPok\u00e9mon: Detective Pikachu\u201d movie? You might find the popular media franchise holds lessons in how the human mind makes the connection between sounds and their meanings, according to research by USC Dornsife linguist Stephanie Shih.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[107,155,60,734],"class_list":["post-3518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","tag-language","tag-linguistics","tag-research","tag-stephanie-shih"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Planning to see the \u201cPok\u00e9mon: Detective Pikachu\u201d movie? You might find the popular media franchise holds lessons in how the human mind makes the connection between sounds and their meanings, according to research by USC Dornsife linguist Stephanie Shih.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USC Dornsife News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-09T18:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-19T18:06:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"524\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-09T18:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-19T18:06:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/\"},\"wordCount\":7,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"language\",\"linguistics\",\"research\",\"stephanie shih\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Faculty\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/\",\"name\":\"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-09T18:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-19T18:06:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":524,\"caption\":\"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"USC Dornsife News\",\"description\":\"USC Dornsife news and events\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"USC Dornsife News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/01\/USC-Dornsife-Cardinal-Black-on-White-RGB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/01\/USC-Dornsife-Cardinal-Black-on-White-RGB.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":330,\"caption\":\"USC Dornsife News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/uscdornsife\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uscdornsife\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/USCCollege\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/uscdornsife\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language","og_description":"Planning to see the \u201cPok\u00e9mon: Detective Pikachu\u201d movie? You might find the popular media franchise holds lessons in how the human mind makes the connection between sounds and their meanings, according to research by USC Dornsife linguist Stephanie Shih.","og_url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/","og_site_name":"USC Dornsife News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife","article_published_time":"2019-05-09T18:10:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-19T18:06:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":524,"url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uscdornsife","twitter_site":"@uscdornsife","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language","datePublished":"2019-05-09T18:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-19T18:06:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/"},"wordCount":7,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg","keywords":["language","linguistics","research","stephanie shih"],"articleSection":["Faculty"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/","name":"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-09T18:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-19T18:06:58+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3013.jpg","width":800,"height":524,"caption":"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/pokemon-can-teach-us-about-language\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pok\u00e9mon can teach us about language"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/","name":"USC Dornsife News","description":"USC Dornsife news and events","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"USC Dornsife News","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/01\/USC-Dornsife-Cardinal-Black-on-White-RGB.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/01\/USC-Dornsife-Cardinal-Black-on-White-RGB.jpg","width":1000,"height":330,"caption":"USC Dornsife News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife","https:\/\/x.com\/uscdornsife","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uscdornsife\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/USCCollege","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/uscdornsife"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3518"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3520,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions\/3520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}