Do Pain and Joy Have a Universal Language?

Ouch! Ah! Aïe! The words we use when we stub our toe or receive a pinch may point to a common way to express pain across languages. Associate news editor Allison Parshall explores what linguistic commonalities in expressions of pain and joy might mean for our shared biology. Plus, Parshall and host Rachel Feltman chat about onomatopoeias, the “bouba-kiki” effect and linguistic news you may have missed in 2024.
Recommended reading:
Ouch! Linguists Find Universal Language for Pain www.scientific...
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My Synesthesia Transforms Speech into Text I ‘See’ in My Head www.scientific...
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Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

[@prosamis]

Not a linguist but the first thing that comes to mind is the function the "a" sound serves
The most efficient, fast, loudest sound you can do to immediately alert everyone around you I would think is "A" and in a survival situation where pain is suddenly inflicted, I imagine all these metrics are important

[@bambodiallo7138]

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