1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”
  4. Volume 47, Issue 3
  5. Article
Volume 47, Issue 3
  • ISSN 0378-4177
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9978
PDF
EPUB

Abstract

Abstract

There is a long history presuming smell is not expressible in language, but numerous studies in recent years challenge this presupposition. Large smell lexica have been reported around the world thereby showing high in this domain. Psycholinguistic studies likewise find smell can be described with relatively high agreement, demonstrating high . Often the two go hand-in-hand: languages with high lexical codability also display high efficient codability. This study compares two Austroasiatic (Aslian) languages – Semaq Beri and Semelai – previously shown to diverge in their efficient codability for smell: Semaq Beri showed relatively high efficient codability, whereas Semelai did not. Despite this, we demonstrate that both languages have high lexical codability, i.e., large lexica of basic smell terms. This seems to be a feature of the Aslian language family, suggesting a long-standing preoccupation with odours. More generally, the dissociation between lexical and efficient codability suggests a more nuanced approach towards linguistic expressibility is necessary.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/sl.22004.kru
2022-11-28
2025-04-27

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/sl.22004.kru
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/sl.22004.kru.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/sl.22004.kru&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Allan, Keith & Kate Burridge
    2006 Forbidden words. Taboo and the censoring of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511617881
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617881 [Google Scholar]
  2. Arshamian, Artin, Richard C. Gerkin, Nicole Kruspe, Ewelina Wnuk, Simeon Floyd, Carolyn O’Meara, Gabriela Garrido Rodriguez, Johan N. Lundström, Joel D. Mainland & Asifa Majid
    2022 The perception of odor pleasantness is shared across cultures. Current Biology. 2061-2066.e3. 10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.062
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.062 [Google Scholar]
  3. Beek, Walter E. A. van
    1992 The dirty smith: Smell as a social frontier among the Kapsiki/Higi of North Cameroon and North-Eastern Nigeria. Africa62(1). 38–58. 10.2307/1160063
     https://doi.org/10.2307/1160063 [Google Scholar]
  4. Benjamin, Geoffrey
    1985 In the long term: three themes in Malayan cultural ecology. InKarl L. Hutterer, A. Terry Rambo & George Lovelace (eds.), Cultural values and human ecology in Southeast Asia, 219–78. Ann Arbor MI: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Berlin, Brent & Paul Kay
    1969 Basic color terms: Their universality and evolution. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Blench, Roger & Selbut R. Longtau
    1995 Tarok ophresiology. An investigation into the Tarok terminology of odours. InE. Nolue. Emenanjo & Ozo-mekuri Ndimele (eds.), Issues of African languages and linguistics: Essays in honour of Kay Williamson, 340–343. Aba: National Institute for Nigerian Languages.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Boisson, Claude
    1997 La dénomination des odeurs: Variations et régularités linguistiques. Intellectica1(24). 29–49. 10.3406/intel.1997.1546
     https://doi.org/10.3406/intel.1997.1546 [Google Scholar]
  8. Burenhult, Niclas
    2018 The Jahai multi-term demonstrative system: what’s spatial about it?InStephen C. Levinson, Sarah Cutfield, Michael Dunn, N. J. Enfield & Sergio Meira (eds.), Demonstratives in cross-linguistic perspective, 361–380. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108333818.018
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108333818.018 [Google Scholar]
  9. Burenhult, Niclas, Nicole Kruspe & Michael Dunn
    2011 Language history and culture groups among Austroasiatic-speaking foragers of the Malay Peninsula. InNick J. Enfield (ed.), Dynamics of human diversity: The case of mainland Southeast Asia, 257–77. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Burenhult, Niclas & Nicole Kruspe
    2016 The language of eating and drinking: a window on Orang Asli meaning-making. InKirk M. Endicott (ed.), Malaysia’s original people: Past, present and future of the Orang Asli, 175–199. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Burenhult, Niclas & Asifa Majid
    2011 Olfaction in Aslian ideology and language. Senses & Society6(1). 19–29. 10.2752/174589311X12893982233597
     https://doi.org/10.2752/174589311X12893982233597 [Google Scholar]
  12. Classen, Constance
    1992 The odor of the other: Olfactory symbolism and cultural categories. Ethos: Journal of the society for psychological anthropology20(2). 133–166. 10.1525/eth.1992.20.2.02a00010
     https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1992.20.2.02a00010 [Google Scholar]
  13. Classen, Constance, David Howes & Anthony Synnott
    1994 Aroma: The cultural history of smell. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Dentan, Robert Knox
    1965 Some Semai Senoi dietary restrictions: A study of food behavior in a Malayan hill tribe. New Haven: Yale University PhD dissertation/Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Microfilms.
  15. Diffloth, Gérard
    1976 Expressives in Semai. InPhilip N. Jenner Laurence C. Thompson & Stanley Starosta (eds.), Austroasiatic studiesVol.11, 249–264. Oceanic linguistics, Special publication 13. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Dixon, Robert M. W. & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
    2004 Adjective classes: A cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Dunn, Michael, Niclas Burenhult, Nicole Kruspe, Sylvia Tufvesson & Neele Becker
    2011 Aslian linguistic prehistory: a case study in computational phylogenetics. Diachronica281. 291–323. 10.1075/dia.28.3.01dun
     https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.28.3.01dun [Google Scholar]
  18. Endicott, Kirk M.
    1979 Batek negrito religion: The world view and rituals of a hunting and gathering people of Peninsular Malaysia. Oxford: Clarendon.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Evans, Nicholas & David Wilkins
    2000 In the mind’s ear: The semantic extensions of perception verbs in Australian languages. Language76(3). 546–592. 10.2307/417135
     https://doi.org/10.2307/417135 [Google Scholar]
  20. Floyd, Simeon, Lila San Roque & Asifa Majid
    2018 Smell is coded in grammar and frequent in discourse: Cha’palaa olfactory language in cross-linguistic perspective. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology28(2). 175–196. 10.1111/jola.12190
     https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.12190 [Google Scholar]
  21. Gell, Alfred F.
    1977 Magic, perfume, dream. InIoan Lewis (ed.), Symbols and sentiments: Cross-cultural studies in symbolism, 25–38. London: Academic Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Gianno, Rosemary
    1990 Semelai culture and resin technology. New Haven, CT: Connecticut academy of arts and sciences.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Hombert, Jean-Marie, Médard. Mouélé, Catherine Rouby, Benoît Schaal & Gilles Sicard
    2016 Basic odour terms in Li-Wanzi (a Bantu language spoken in Gabon): An experimental approach. InMelissa Barkat-Defradas & Elisabeth Motte-Florac (eds.), Words for odours: language skills and cultural insights. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Howell, Signe
    1989 Society and cosmos: Chewong of peninsular Malaysia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Jędrzejowski, Łukasz & Przemysław Staniewski
    (eds.) 2021 The linguistics of olfaction: Typological and diachronic approaches to synchronic diversity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.131
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.131 [Google Scholar]
  26. Krifka, Manfred
    2010 A note on the asymmetry in the hedonic implicatures of olfactory and gustatory terms. InSusanna Fuchs, Phil Hoole, Christine Mooshammer & Marzena Zygis (eds.), Between the regular and the particular in speech and language, 235–245. Frankfurt aM: Peter Lang.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Kruspe, Nicole
    2004a A grammar of Semelai. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511550713
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511550713 [Google Scholar]
  28. 2004b Adjectives in Semelai. InRobert M. W. Dixon & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds). Adjectives Classes: A cross-linguistic typology, 283–305. Oxford: Oxford University Press
     [Google Scholar]
  29. 2010 A dictionary of Mah Meri as spoken at Bukit Bangkong. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication361. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. 2014 Semaq Beri. InMatthias Jenny & Paul Sidwell (eds.), Handbook of Austroasiatic languages, 475–516. Leiden: Brill.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Lee, Amy Pei-Jung
    2015 Lexical categories and conceptualization of olfaction in Amis. Language and Cognition71. 321–350. 10.1017/langcog.2014.32
     https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2014.32 [Google Scholar]
  32. Levinson, Stephen C. & Asifa Majid
    2014 Differential ineffability and the senses. Mind & Language29(4). 407–427. 10.1111/mila.12057
     https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12057 [Google Scholar]
  33. Majid, Asifa & Niclas Burenhult
    2014 Odors are expressible in language, as long as you speak the right language. Cognition1301. 266–70. 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.11.004
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2013.11.004 [Google Scholar]
  34. Majid, Asifa
    2021a Human olfaction at the intersection of language, culture, and biology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences25(2). 111–123. 10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005 [Google Scholar]
  35. 2021b Olfactory language requires an integrative and interdisciplinary approach. Trends in Cognitive Sciences25(6). 421–422. 10.1016/j.tics.2021.03.004
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.03.004 [Google Scholar]
  36. Majid, Asifa, Niclas Burenhult, Marcus Stensmyr, Josje de Valk & Bill S. Hansson
    2018 Olfactory language and abstraction across cultures. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences373 (1752). 10.1098/rstb.2017.0139
     https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0139 [Google Scholar]
  37. Majid, Asifa & Nicole Kruspe
    2018 Hunter-gatherer olfaction is special. Current Biology, 28(3). 409–413. 10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.014
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.014 [Google Scholar]
  38. Matisoff, James A.
    2003 Aslian: Mon-Khmer of the Malay Peninsula. Mon-Khmer Studies331. 1–58.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. McGann, John. P.
    2017 Poor human olfaction is a 19th-century myth. Science3561, eaam7263. 10.1126/science.aam7263
     https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam7263 [Google Scholar]
  40. Mitchell, Alice
    2015 Words that smell like father-in-law: A linguistic description of the Datooga avoidance register. Anthropological Linguistics57(2). 195–217. 10.1353/anl.2016.0004
     https://doi.org/10.1353/anl.2016.0004 [Google Scholar]
  41. Olofsson, Jonas K., and Gottfried, Jay A.
    2015 The muted sense: Neurocognitive limitations of olfactory language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences191, 314–321. 10.1016/j.tics.2015.04.007
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.04.007 [Google Scholar]
  42. O’Meara, Carolyn & Asifa Majid
    2016 How changing lifestyles impact Seri smellscapes and smell language. Anthropological Linguistics58(2). 107–131. 10.1353/anl.2016.0024
     https://doi.org/10.1353/anl.2016.0024 [Google Scholar]
  43. 2020 Anger stinks in Seri: Olfactory metaphor in a lesser-described language. Cognitive Linguistics31(3). 367–391. 10.1515/cog‑2017‑0100
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2017-0100 [Google Scholar]
  44. O’Meara, Carolyn, Susan Smythe Kung & Asifa Majid
    2018 The Challenge of Olfactory Ideophones: Reconsidering Ineffability from the Totonac-Tepehua Perspective. International Journal of American Linguistics851.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. San Roque, Lila, Kobin H. Kendrick, Elizabeth Norcliffe & Asifa Majid
    2018 Universal meaning extensions of perception verbs are grounded in interaction. Cognitive Linguistics29(3). 371–406. 10.1515/cog‑2017‑0034
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2017-0034 [Google Scholar]
  46. Sperber, Dan
    1975 Rethinking Symbolism (English translation byAlice L. Morton). Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Stassen, Leon
    2013 Predicative Adjectives. In: Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (wals.info/chapter/118, last access30 August 2022.)
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Storch, Anne
    2014 A grammar of Luwo: An anthropological approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/clu.12
     https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.12 [Google Scholar]
  49. Storch, Anne & Rainer Vossen
    2007 Odours and colours in Nilotic: Comparative case studies. InMechtild Reh & Doris L. Payne (eds.), Advances in Nilo-Saharan linguistics, proceedings of the 8th Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, 101–121. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Damrong Tayanin, Kristina Lindell & Håkan Lundström
    2014 Dictionary of Kammu Yùan language and culture. NIAS Reference library 6. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Sweetser, Eve
    1990 From etymology to pragmatics: Metaphorical and cultural aspects of semantic structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511620904
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620904 [Google Scholar]
  52. Tarpent, Marie-Lucie
    1987 A grammar of the Nisgha language. Victoria: University of Victoria PhD dissertation.
  53. Tufvesson, Sylvia
    2011 Analogy-making in the Semai sensory world. The Senses and Society61. 86–95. 10.2752/174589311X12893982233876
     https://doi.org/10.2752/174589311X12893982233876 [Google Scholar]
  54. Vanhove, Martine
    2008 Semantic associations between sensory modalities, prehension and mental perceptions: A cross-linguistic perspective. InMartine Vanhove (ed.), From polysemy to semantic change: Towards a typology of lexical semantic associations, 341–370. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/slcs.106.17van
     https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.106.17van [Google Scholar]
  55. Viberg, Åke
    1984 The verbs of perception: A typological study. InBrian Butterworth, Bernard Comrie & Östen Dahl (eds.), Explanations for language universals, 123–62. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 10.1515/9783110868555.123
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110868555.123 [Google Scholar]
  56. 2019 Phenomenon-based perception verbs in Swedish from a typological and contrastive perspective. InÉric Gilbert (ed.), Perception, perceptibilité et objet perçu. Approches inter-langues, 17–48. Syntaxe & Sémantique 20. Caen: Presses Universitaires de Caen. (uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1374745/FULLTEXT01.pdflast access30 August 2022)
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Wilkinson, Richard J.
    1932 A Malay-English dictionary (Romanised). Reprint, Tokyo: Daitōa Syuppan Kabusiki Kaisya 1943.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Wnuk, Ewelina & Asifa Majid
    2014 Revisiting the limits of language: the odor lexicon of Maniq. Cognition1311. 125–38. 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.12.008
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2013.12.008 [Google Scholar]
  59. Wnuk, Ewelina
    2016 Semantic specificity in Maniq verbs of perception. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics PhD dissertation.
  60. Yeshurun, Yaara & Noam Sobel
    2010 An odor is not worth a thousand words: from multidimensional odors to unidimensional odor objects. Annual review of psychology611, 219–41, C1–5. 10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163639
     https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163639 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.22004.kru
Loading
The linguistics of odour in Semaq Beri and Semelai, two Austroasiatic languages of the Malay Peninsula
Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language” 47, 599 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.22004.kru
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.22004.kru
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.22004.kru
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Aslian languages; basic smell terms; morphosyntax; olfaction; olfactory language; semantics

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error