人类嗅觉：语言、文化和生物学的交汇点

Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology.

机构信息

Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK.

出版信息

Trends Cogn Sci. 2021 Feb;25(2):111-123. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005. Epub 2020 Dec 18.

DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005

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.

摘要

人类的嗅觉可以完成惊人的壮举，但人们仍然普遍认为嗅觉语言是有缺陷的。大量针对英语使用者的研究支持这一观点：用于描述气味的词汇很少，关于气味的讨论也不常见，而且给气味命名很困难。然而，这并不是全世界的真实情况。许多语言都有相当大的气味词汇表——气味甚至被语法化了。此外，对于某些文化来说，关于气味的讨论更为频繁，给气味命名也更容易。这种语言上的差异至今仍未得到解释，但可能是生态、文化、遗传或这些因素的组合造成的。谈论气味的不同方式也可能塑造嗅觉认知的各个方面。重要的是，这种变化为这一重要的感觉模态提供了新的视角。