Taste synaesthesias
-
Irene Ronga
Abstract
Taste synaesthesias are metaphorical expressions composed of a taste-related head and a modifier related to a different sensory modality (e.g. ‘delicate taste'). By employing an interdisciplinary approach, combining corpus linguistics with neurophysiology, it is shown that taste synaesthesias are grounded in the actual experience of tasting food. As indicated by several neurophysiological studies, the sensation of flavour is deeply influenced by olfactory and somatosensory inputs (i.e. stimuli related to touch and to the perception of temperature and pain). The analysis of an original corpus of food and drink-related marketing texts highlighted that synaesthetic pairings parallel gustatory perception in a specific fashion, showing different associative patterns in association with the referents described.
Abstract
Taste synaesthesias are metaphorical expressions composed of a taste-related head and a modifier related to a different sensory modality (e.g. ‘delicate taste'). By employing an interdisciplinary approach, combining corpus linguistics with neurophysiology, it is shown that taste synaesthesias are grounded in the actual experience of tasting food. As indicated by several neurophysiological studies, the sensation of flavour is deeply influenced by olfactory and somatosensory inputs (i.e. stimuli related to touch and to the perception of temperature and pain). The analysis of an original corpus of food and drink-related marketing texts highlighted that synaesthetic pairings parallel gustatory perception in a specific fashion, showing different associative patterns in association with the referents described.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Metaphors we live twice 1
-
The cognitive and linguistic dimension of metaphor
- Metaphor and simile 25
- Taste synaesthesias 47
- Selling and buying, killing and wounding 61
- Time is money – everywhere? Analysing time metaphors across varieties of English 79
- Metaphors, bilingual mental lexicon and distributional models 105
- Towards a model of metaphorical understanding 123
- On the role of perceptual features in metaphor comprehension 147
-
The communicative dimension of metaphor
- Adventures of a metaphor 173
- Moral disgust at its best 189
- “The Ultimate Spinner” 201
- Blending metaphors and arguments in advertising 217
- Metaphors and online learning 235
- Metaphor in sign language poetry 249
- Metaphor and the concept of sound in contemporary music 265
- Index 285
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Metaphors we live twice 1
-
The cognitive and linguistic dimension of metaphor
- Metaphor and simile 25
- Taste synaesthesias 47
- Selling and buying, killing and wounding 61
- Time is money – everywhere? Analysing time metaphors across varieties of English 79
- Metaphors, bilingual mental lexicon and distributional models 105
- Towards a model of metaphorical understanding 123
- On the role of perceptual features in metaphor comprehension 147
-
The communicative dimension of metaphor
- Adventures of a metaphor 173
- Moral disgust at its best 189
- “The Ultimate Spinner” 201
- Blending metaphors and arguments in advertising 217
- Metaphors and online learning 235
- Metaphor in sign language poetry 249
- Metaphor and the concept of sound in contemporary music 265
- Index 285
