Senses of touch and smell and lexical categories: a discussion in sensory linguistics

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor in Linguistics, Department of Linguistics,, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 Associate Professor in Linguistics, Department of Linguistics,, Payam-e-Nour University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

This research compares the representation of smell and touch in modern Persian through three lexical categories: noun, adjective, and verb, within the sensory linguistics framework. Data were extracted from The Dictionary of Sokhan (1381). After collecting relevant words, the frequency of their occurrence in each category was analyzed and compared with the assumption of Winter and Strik Lievers (2018) which states linguistic encodings of the senses of smell and touch will be more in the nominal category. Findings revealed that sense of touch is represented three times more than smell, with a higher frequency in adjectives. Verbs and nouns appear less often. For smell, verbs are most frequent, followed by nouns and adjectives. This shows that the two senses differ in their linguistic representation across lexical categories. It challenges Winter and StrikLeivers' (2018) assumption that both senses are mainly represented in the noun category, and that smell, being less dynamic, is less frequent in the verb category compared to touch.

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Main Subjects

Linguistic Studies: Theory and Practice

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 May 2025

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History

  • Receive Date: 24 January 2025
  • Revise Date: 13 May 2025
  • Accept Date: 13 May 2025

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