Journal article
Human olfaction at the intersection of language, culture, and biology
- Abstract:
- The human sense of smell can accomplish astonishing feats, yet there remains a prevailing belief that olfactory language is deficient. Numerous studies with English speakers support this view: there are few terms for odors, odor talk is infrequent, and naming odors is difficult. However, this is not true across the world. Many languages have sizeable smell lexicons — smell is even grammaticalized. In addition, for some cultures smell talk is more frequent and odor naming easier. This linguistic variation is as yet unexplained but could be the result of ecological, cultural, or genetic factors or a combination thereof. Different ways of talking about smells may shape aspects of olfactory cognition too. Critically, this variation sheds new light on this important sensory modality.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, 1.4MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Journal:
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences More from this journal
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 2
- Pages:
- 111-123
- Publication date:
- 2021-02-01
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-03-02
- DOI:
- ISSN:
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1364-6613
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1249342
- Local pid:
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pubs:1249342
- Deposit date:
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2022-04-03
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Asifa Majid
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- ©2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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