11. Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement
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Peter Holz
Abstract
The starting point of this paper is the observation that there is no consistent and conventionalized ‘lexicon of olfaction’ in any language. This is due in large part to the neurophysiological incongruence of language-processing and smellprocessing structures in the brain. Nonetheless we do in some way speak about smells, odors, scents. The discourse of cologne advertising, which I concentrate on, provides a vast amount of quasi-olfactory expressions. The majority of these adjectives, nouns and noun phrases are generated by synesthesia as a metaphorical process. On the theoretical basis of general semiotics (Peirce) and the poetic function of language (Jakobson), I assert that in cologne discourse poetic means are indispensable, since the referential function cannot cope adequately with describing smells.
Abstract
The starting point of this paper is the observation that there is no consistent and conventionalized ‘lexicon of olfaction’ in any language. This is due in large part to the neurophysiological incongruence of language-processing and smellprocessing structures in the brain. Nonetheless we do in some way speak about smells, odors, scents. The discourse of cologne advertising, which I concentrate on, provides a vast amount of quasi-olfactory expressions. The majority of these adjectives, nouns and noun phrases are generated by synesthesia as a metaphorical process. On the theoretical basis of general semiotics (Peirce) and the poetic function of language (Jakobson), I assert that in cologne discourse poetic means are indispensable, since the referential function cannot cope adequately with describing smells.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- 1. Speaking of colors and odors 1
- 2. Color smell, and language: The semiotic nature of perception and language 19
- 3. How can language cope with color? Functional aspects of the nervous system 35
- 4. Color perception, color description and metaphor 61
- 5. Attractiveness and adornment 85
- 6. Color terms between elegance and beauty. The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics 113
- 7. Color names and dynamic imagery 129
- 8. From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English 141
- 9. Odor memory 155
- 10. From psychophysics to semiophysics 167
- 11. Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement 185
- 12. Understanding synesthetic expressions 203
- 13. Olfactory and visual processing and verbalization 227
- Contributors 239
- Index 241
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- 1. Speaking of colors and odors 1
- 2. Color smell, and language: The semiotic nature of perception and language 19
- 3. How can language cope with color? Functional aspects of the nervous system 35
- 4. Color perception, color description and metaphor 61
- 5. Attractiveness and adornment 85
- 6. Color terms between elegance and beauty. The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics 113
- 7. Color names and dynamic imagery 129
- 8. From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English 141
- 9. Odor memory 155
- 10. From psychophysics to semiophysics 167
- 11. Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement 185
- 12. Understanding synesthetic expressions 203
- 13. Olfactory and visual processing and verbalization 227
- Contributors 239
- Index 241
