How do we process the segmental and suprasegmental iconicity occurring in the same speech stimuli?

Face-to-face communication often involves multiple iconic cues (gestural, suprasegmental and segmental) to convey meaning. Previous research shows that gestural and suprasegmental iconicity cues, as well as gestural and segmental iconicity cues, often co-occur, suggesting that speakers combine visual and acoustic forms of iconicity to reinforce meaning. This study investigates whether listeners can simultaneously utilize both suprasegmental and segmental iconic cues in the same speech stimuli to associate sounds with meaning. Finnish-speaking participants were presented auditorily with pseudowords consisting of suprasegmental and segmental iconicity cues referring to shape-related concepts (Experiment 1) or magnitude-related concepts (Experiment 2). The study showed that these two dimensions of acoustic iconicity are processed relatively independently, yet in parallel, for linking the speech signal to meaning.