2019/04/02 by Carolyn O’Meara, Susan Smythe Kung, Asifa Majid · 3 citations
Neuroscience · Nursing · Psychology · #Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques #Multisensory perception and integration #Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/701801
crossref issued 2019/04/02 · crossref published 2019/04/02 · crossref published-print 2019/04/02 · openalex publication_date 2019/04/02 · crossref created 2019/04/08 · crossref deposited 2023/08/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Olfactory impressions are said to be ineffable, but little systematic exploration has been done to substantiate this. We explored olfactory language in Huehuetla Tepehua—a Totonac-Tepehua language spoken in Hidalgo, Mexico—which has a large inventory of ideophones, words with sound-symbolic properties used to describe perceptuomotor experiences. A multi-method study found Huehuetla Tepehua has 45 olfactory ideophones, illustrating intriguing sound-symbolic alternation patterns. Elaboration in the olfactory domain is not unique to this language; related Totonac-Tepehua languages also have impressive smell lexicons. Comparison across these languages shows olfactory and gustatory terms overlap in interesting ways, mirroring the physiology of smelling and tasting. However, although cognate taste terms are formally similar, olfactory terms are less so. We suggest the relative instability of smell vocabulary in comparison with those of taste likely results from the more varied olfactory experiences caused by the mutability of smells in different environments.