Experimental psychologists and historical sociologists are the right library.
Baby-name influencers describing “strong vowels” are not.
People
- Edward Sapir 1884–1939 · United States — Early symbolism
Experimental hunches about sound and size.
- Wolfgang Köhler 1887–1967 · Germany — Maluma/takete
Shape–sound matching that later became bouba/kiki.
- Vilayanur Ramachandran b. 1951 · India / U.S. — Bouba/kiki populariser
Brought the demo into contemporary cognitive science.
- Stanley Lieberson 1933–2018 · United States — Fashion phonetics
Endings and neighbours as social, not mystical, sound.
- Penny Pexman b. 1967 · Canada — Symbolism limits
Work on when sound symbolism does and does not appear.
- David Crystal b. 1941 · United Kingdom — Public phonetics
Explained English sound structure without selling fate.
Cite a task, a language and a year. That is phonetic science.