This is hinted at in other comments, but is it established in the literature that this is a small, unconscious bias? It seems like it could just as easily be the conscious preferences of a few people. In accordance with what Alicorn says below, I wouldn’t be surprised if a positive integer of people moved to Philadelphia to become “Philladelphia Phil” or something similar.
Assonance is merely re-using the same vowel sound repetitively, not necessarily at the beginning of the word—the equivalent for consonants is “consonance”. The above would commonly be called alliteration, sometimes defended by the unwritten glottal stop consonant used before vowel sounds at the beginning of English words.
This is hinted at in other comments, but is it established in the literature that this is a small, unconscious bias? It seems like it could just as easily be the conscious preferences of a few people. In accordance with what Alicorn says below, I wouldn’t be surprised if a positive integer of people moved to Philadelphia to become “Philladelphia Phil” or something similar.
There’s no shortage of people who, consciously and unabashedly, like alliteration a lot more than seems appropriate to me.
aww Alicorn, alliteration always awesomely alleviates awful ailments.
And also annoys audiences.
You’re using assonance, not alliteration.
Assonance is merely re-using the same vowel sound repetitively, not necessarily at the beginning of the word—the equivalent for consonants is “consonance”. The above would commonly be called alliteration, sometimes defended by the unwritten glottal stop consonant used before vowel sounds at the beginning of English words.
Voted up since I learned something. (Glottal stops. Huh.)