John Benjamins Publishing Company
Smelling over time
Abstract
Sensory anthropologists have described societies that, compared to Western ones, attribute to the sense of smell a more prominent cultural role, and linguists are bringing evidence that a higher sociocultural status of smell tends to be reflected in language by a richer and more elaborated olfactory lexicon. Given that the relative prominence of one sense within the sensorium has been shown to vary not only across societies, but also over time, such variation may be expected to have linguistic reflections. This study explores whether and how the olfactory lexicon has changed from Latin to Italian. Is the alleged increased “deodorization” of contemporary Western societies associated with changes in the lexicon? The data show that, contrary to expectations, the overall size of the olfactory lexicon did not undergo appreciable changes. However, it progressively became more oriented toward the negative pole of evaluation (i.e., the expression of unpleasant smells). Implications and possible explanations are discussed in the light of the linguistic and sensory-historical literature.
Abstract
Sensory anthropologists have described societies that, compared to Western ones, attribute to the sense of smell a more prominent cultural role, and linguists are bringing evidence that a higher sociocultural status of smell tends to be reflected in language by a richer and more elaborated olfactory lexicon. Given that the relative prominence of one sense within the sensorium has been shown to vary not only across societies, but also over time, such variation may be expected to have linguistic reflections. This study explores whether and how the olfactory lexicon has changed from Latin to Italian. Is the alleged increased “deodorization” of contemporary Western societies associated with changes in the lexicon? The data show that, contrary to expectations, the overall size of the olfactory lexicon did not undergo appreciable changes. However, it progressively became more oriented toward the negative pole of evaluation (i.e., the expression of unpleasant smells). Implications and possible explanations are discussed in the light of the linguistic and sensory-historical literature.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgments vii
- List of contributors ix
- Rendering what the nose perceives 1
- Why is smell special? 35
- The domain of olfaction in Basque 73
- On olfactory terminology in Georgian and other Kartvelian languages 113
- Let me count the ways it stinks 137
- Olfactory, gustatory and tactile perception in Beja (North-Cushitic) 175
- How to smell without a verb “to smell” in Fon 199
- How to talk about smell in Japanese 221
- An overview of olfactory expressions in Formosan languages 251
- Olfactory words in northern Vanuatu 277
- Alternating smell in Modern Hebrew 305
- Syntactic patterns for Romanian olfactive verbs 343
- Smelling over time 369
- To what extent can source-based olfactory verbs be classified as copulas? 403
- Typology of metaphors with the olfactory target domain in the Polish perfumery discourse 449
- Languages index 475
- Subjects index 477
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgments vii
- List of contributors ix
- Rendering what the nose perceives 1
- Why is smell special? 35
- The domain of olfaction in Basque 73
- On olfactory terminology in Georgian and other Kartvelian languages 113
- Let me count the ways it stinks 137
- Olfactory, gustatory and tactile perception in Beja (North-Cushitic) 175
- How to smell without a verb “to smell” in Fon 199
- How to talk about smell in Japanese 221
- An overview of olfactory expressions in Formosan languages 251
- Olfactory words in northern Vanuatu 277
- Alternating smell in Modern Hebrew 305
- Syntactic patterns for Romanian olfactive verbs 343
- Smelling over time 369
- To what extent can source-based olfactory verbs be classified as copulas? 403
- Typology of metaphors with the olfactory target domain in the Polish perfumery discourse 449
- Languages index 475
- Subjects index 477
