The Linguistics of Olfaction : Typological and Diachronic Approaches to Synchronic Diversity

"This volume presents novel cross-linguistic insights into how olfactory experiences are expressed in typologically (un-)related languages both from a synchronic and from a diachronic perspective. It contains a general introduction to the topic and fourteen chapters based on philological investigation and thorough fieldwork data from Basque, Beja, Fon, Formosan languages, Hebrew, Indo-European languages, Japanese, Kartvelian languages, Purepecha, and languages of northern Vanuatu. Topics discussed in the individual chapters involve, inter alia, lexical olfactory repertoires and naming strategies, non-literal meanings of olfactory expressions and their semantic change, reduplication, colexification, mimetics, and language contact. The findings provide the reader with a range of fascinating facts about perception description, contribute to a deeper understanding of how olfaction as an understudied sense is encoded linguistically, and offer new theoretical perspectives on how some parts of our cognitive system are verbalized cross-culturally. This volume is highly relevant to lexical typologists, historical linguists, grammarians, and anthropologists"-- Provided bypublisher The Linguistics of Olfaction Typological and Diachronic Approaches to Synchronic Diversity Editorial page Title page Copyright page Table of contents Preface and acknowledgments List of contributors 1. Rendering what the nose perceives 1. Introduction 2. On the variation of olfactory terms 2.1 Lexical repertoires 2.2 Non-literal meanings 2.3 Morphology 2.4 Evidentiality 2.5 Diachrony 3. The structure of the volume 4. Conclusion and future directions Abbreviations Acknowledgments References 2. Why is smell special? 1. Introduction 1.1 Verbs of perception 1.2 Phenomenon-based sensory words 2. The neurophysiology and psychology of smell 3. Olfaction and language: State of the art 4. The semantic field of smell in Swedish 4.1 The basic structure 4.2 Conceptualization of smell as a moving entity 4.3 Towards a formalized model 5. Quantitative overview 6. Metaphorical and other extended uses 7. Talking about odors in Swedish 7.1 What odors are talked about 7.2 What situations are commented on by using an odor verb? 7.3 The noun lukt ‘odor’ 8. Why then is smell special? Abbreviations Electronic sources References 3. The domain of olfaction in Basque 1. Introduction 2. Olfactory expressions: The case of smell verbs in Basque 3. Beyond verbs: Smell nouns in Basque 4. The semantic scope of olfactory vocabulary 4.1 Physical meanings 4.2 Figurative meanings 5. Just a word on the use of olfactory vocabulary 6. Final remarks and future work: smell in language and culture Abbreviations Acknowledgments Primary sources Dictionaries References 4. On olfactory terminology in Georgian and other Kartvelian languages 1. Introduction 2. Georgian perception verbs 3. The system of olfactory terminology in Georgian and Megrelian 3.1 The modality of smell in Georgian 3.2 The modality of smell in Megrelian 3.3 Georgian and Megrelian olfactory terminology in a wider context 4. On the formation and origin of olfactive terminology in the Kartvelian languages 5. Concluding remarks Abbreviations Primary sources References 5. Let me count the ways it stinks 1. Introduction 2. Background to ‘smell languages’ 3. Introduction to Purepecha 3.1 Purepecha language 3.2 Spatial location suffixes 4. Smell terms in Purepecha 4.1 Abstract terms 4.2 A matter of taste 4.3 Descriptive terms 4.4 Source-based terms 4.5 Generic verbs meaning ‘to smell’ 5. Historical perspective 6. Conclusions Acknowledgments Abbreviations References 6. Olfactory, gustatory and tactile perception in Beja (North-Cushitic) 1. Introduction 2. Some basic aspects of Beja morphosyntax 3 Olfaction 3.1 Organization of the lexicon 3.2 Syntactic constructions 3.3 Metaphors 4 Taste 4.1 Organization of the lexicon 4.2 Syntactic constructions 4.3 Metaphors 5. Touch 5.1 Organization of the lexicon 5.2 Syntactic constructions 5.3 Metaphors 6. Conclusion Funding Acknowledgments Abbreviations References 7. How to smell without a verb “to smell” in Fon 1. Introduction 2. Grammatical outline 3. Olfactory nominal expressions 4. Phenomenon-based constructions 5. Experiencer-based constructions 6. The olfactory activity expression 7. The language of love, hate and shame 8. Conclusion Abbreviations References 8. How to talk about smell in Japanese 1. Introduction 2. Core lexicon 3. Expanding the core 3.1 Collocations of basic vocabulary 3.1.1 kagu 3.1.2 niou 3.1.3 kusai 3.1.4 nioi 3.1.5 kaori 3.1.6 Summary of collocational information 3.2 Morphology: -kusai 3.3 Sensory smell descriptors: Mimetics 3.3.1 pun, puun, punpun 3.3.2 tsun, tsuun, tsuntsun 3.3.3 Other mimetics: kunkun 3.3.4 Summary of mimetics 4. Beyond the core 4.1 Other smell verbs: kaoru 4.2 Other smell adjectives 4.3 Other smell nouns 4.3.1 Derived nouns in -kusasa 4.3.2 Complex nouns with bound roots -ga, -koo-, -shuu- 4.3.3 Derived nouns with suffixoid -shuu 5. Conclusion Abbreviations Acknowledgments References 9. An overview of olfactory expressions in Formosan languages 1. Introduction 2. Background 2.1 Language distribution and the speakers 2.2 An outline of grammatical characteristics 2.3 Data collection 3. Abstract smell terms 3.1 Generic smell terms in Formosan languages 3.2 Specific smell terms in Formosan languages 4. Source-oriented construction 5. Analytical strategies 6. Concluding remarks Abbreviations Acknowledgments References 10. Olfactory words in northern Vanuatu 1. Olfaction in northern Vanuatu 1.1 The problem 1.2 The languages of northern Vanuatu 1.3 Data sources for the present study 1.4 The environment in Vanuatu 1.5 Two different approaches 1.6 The present study 2. A corpus-based observation of olfactory verbs 2.1 One central root 2.1.1 Verbal uses 2.1.2 Nominal uses 2.1.3 Forms derived from the same root 2.2 Complementary roots 2.2.1 Active and passive smelling 2.2.2 Breath, smell 2.3 Synthesis 3. Langue vs. parole: Two different approaches 3.1 A reduced lexical domain? 3.2 The apparent exception of Mota 4. Connotations and cultural associations of smells 4.1 Life and death 4.1.1 The smell of death 4.1.2 The smell of life 4.2 From smell to kiss 4.3 The fragrance of nature 5. Conclusion Abbreviations Acknowledgements References 11. Alternating smell in Modern Hebrew 1. Introduction 2. The perception of smell 2.1 Modern Hebrew perception verbs: An overview 2.2 The morpho-syntactic alternation of Modern Hebrew perception verbs 2.3 Factivity 2.4 Belief formation 2.5 Indirect perception 2.6 Non-literal uses 2.7 An account for the alternating perception le-hariax in Modern Hebrew 3. Smell and taste verbs in Modern Hebrew 3.1 le raxreax ‘to sniff out’ and le hasnip̄ ‘to sniff’ 3.2 Odor emission le-hariax 3.3 li-t’om ‘to taste’ 4. From Biblical smell to Modern Hebrew smell 5. Conclusions Acknowledgments Abbreviations References 12. Syntactic patterns for Romanian olfactive verbs 1. Introduction 2. Perception verbs in Romanian: short overview 3. Romanian olfactive verbs: the data 4. Matching configurations and interpretations 4.1 Mono-clausal configurations 4.2 Bi-clausal configurations 5. Analysis 5.1 Background 5.2 Beyond compositionality 5.3 Tests for [evid] 5.4 Typology 6. Conclusions Abbreviations Old Romanian texts References 13. Smelling over time 1. Introduction: Olfaction in culture and language 2. The lexicon of olfaction: Properties and organization 3. Latin 3.1 Verbs 3.2 Nouns 3.3 Adjectives 4. Old Italian 4.1 Verbs 4.2 Nouns 4.3 Adjectives 5. Contemporary Italian 5.1 Verbs 5.2 Nouns 5.3 Adjectives 6. Discussion and conclusions 6.1 The overall size of the olfactory lexicon did not change 6.2 There has been a shift toward the negative pole of evaluation Abbreviations Acknowledgments Primary sources (corpora and dictionaries) References 14. To what extent can source-based olfactory verbs be classified as copulas? 1. Introduction 2. Copula verbs 3. Perception verbs 4. Perception verbs – Copulas, semi-copulas or pseudo-copulas? 5. Analysis 5.1 Subject construction 5.1.1 Constructions of the type subject + source-based smell verb + adjective/adverb 5.1.2 Construction of the type subject + source-based smell verb 5.1.3 Construction of the type subject + source-based smell verb + prepositional phrase/instrumental noun phrase 5.2 Impersonal construction 6. Conclusions Acknowledgments Abbreviations References 15. Typology of metaphors with the olfactory target domain in the Polish perfumery discourse 1. Introduction 2. Method 2.1 Corpus 2.2 Types of synesthetic metaphors 2.3 Method of analysis 3. Results 3.1 Perfumery discourse in the Synamet corpus – Statistics 3.2 Atypical metaphors in the corpus 3.2.1 Mixed metaphors 3.2.2 Entangled metaphors 3.2.3 Narrative (extended) metaphors 4. Discussion 4.1 Mixed metaphors 4.2 Entangled metaphors 4.3 Narrative (extended) metaphors 5. Conclusion Abbreviations Acknowledgments References Languages Index Subjects index