Abstract
In a series of investigations in everyday life situations in different cultures and languages, in expert professional practices (of perfumers) as well as in experimental conditions, we developed a situated cognitive approach of olfactory experience departing from the canonical cognitive model of perception grounded on visual perception and computer sciences. Instead of considering olfaction as a primitive, speechless sense, when relying on information processing of odorants, the situated approach allows unifying the different types of knowledges elaborated from sensory experiences within a semiotic approach of cognition as meaning constitution. An analysis of the linguistic resources available in different languages to speakers when communicating their sensory experience illustrates the specificity of olfactory experience as embodied, multisensory, and critically invested with symbolic, social and emotional values. Therefore, olfaction can be seen as a heuristic for developing a generic model of sensuous cognition. Methodologically, instead of evaluating sensory (subjective) experience at the yardstick of natural sciences descriptions, we suggest to start the (psychological) investigations of olfactory experience from an anthropological perspective by identifying the linguistic resources from any language and their use by speakers in a diversity of discourses elicited from different situations accounting for their olfactory categories as acts of meaning.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
If this journey is actually the story of a personal evolution as a researcher, it is closely related to its inscription within the research group LCPE (Langages, cognition, pratiques et ergonomie), within the CNRS associated with Paris Universities.
- 2.
Within a CNRS program in Cognitive Science (1992–1996) entitled Catégorisation et invariance dans la perception des odeurs and published in specific journals as well as in the collective volume Olfaction , Taste and Cognition (Rouby et al. 2002).
- 3.
The differences could be attributed to the orientation (levogyre or dextrogyre) of an atom on the same Carvone molecule: (S)-(+)-carvone (dextrogyre) smells like caraway, and its mirror image, (R)-(−)-carvone (levogyre), smells like spearmint.
- 4.
This evolution is already reported in numerous publications and compiled in a collective book Dubois et al. (2021).
- 5.
And not just a simple common word (see the differences between words and terms in Dubois (2017)
- 6.
We had a quite similar experience in the visual domain in France when questioning farmers on sunflower diseases from photographs. The farmers’ diagnosis being regularly made in the field by turning up the leaf to check the other side, the fiction of the photograph (presenting only one side of the plant) was therefore failing as it contradicts their ordinary practices (see Dubois et al. 1992).
- 7.
See Dubois and Cance (2021).
- 8.
Assemblage is a technical term in oenology referring to a conceptual project in creating a new composition of wine, while mélange is a common name (with a derogative connotation for any connoisseur of good wines) referring to a simple mixture.
- 9.
Such a demonstration is ironically confirmed by a recent result in neurosciences that visually (!) shows through neuro-imagery that perfumers present a thicker orbitofrontal cortex than “ordinary people” (! sic) such as musicians, confirming the plasticity of neurological structures and the determinism of practices on the structural changes of the brain (see Delon-Martin et al. (2013) on this point).
- 10.
Used to our knowledge by Doucet et al. in 2007.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
We cannot develop here the stimulating recent impulse from Sensory Sciences, mainly developed in food industry where the evaluation of products now goes beyond the traditional psychophysical approach, as for example the semiotic approach of Spinelli (2018).
- 14.
Plural, accounting for the conceptual difference lexically made in French between langues in their diversity and langage (sing) as a universal human faculty.
- 15.
- 16.
We deliberately use knowledges at the plural to overcome the lexical limitation of English (in which Knowledge is only accepted t the singular), to account for the different types of connaissances, savoirs, savoir-faire, emerging from sensory experience as worded in French.
- 17.
Odorant stimulations are already part of the police and military arsenal of non-legal methods of repression of opposing groups crowd movements (Sardanac 2011).
References
Augoyard, J.F. 2014. Sonic experience: A guide to everyday sounds. McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP.
Augoyard, J.-F., and H. Torgue. 1995. Répertoire des effets sonores, à l’écoute de l’environnement. Marseille: Parenthèses.
Balez, S. 2001. Ambiances olfactives dans l’espace construit (PhD). Université de Nantes.
Barkat-Defradas, M., and E. Motte-Florac, eds. 2016. Words for odours: Language skills and cultural insights. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Berlin, B., and P. Kay. 1969. Basic color terms: Their universality and evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Boisson, C. 1997. Quelques généralités sur la dénomination des odeurs : variations et régularités linguistiques. Intellectica 24 (1): 29–49.
Burenhult, N., and A. Majid. 2011. Olfaction in Aslian ideology and language. The Senses and Society 6 (1): 19–29.
Cance, C. 2021. Experiencing and talking about colors. In Sensory experiences: Exploring meaning and the senses, ed. D. Dubois, C. Cance, M. Coler, A. Paté, and C. Guastavino. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Cance, C., D. Dubois, A. Paté and M. Coler. 2021. From stimulations to stimuli selection and construction. In Sensory experiences: Exploring meaning and the senses, ed. D. Dubois, C. Cance, M. Coler, A. Paté, and C. Guastavino. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Candau, J. 2000. Mémoires et expériences olfactives: Anthropologie d’un savoir faire sensoriel. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Casati, R., and A.C. Varzi. 2008. Event concepts. In Understanding events: From perception to action, ed. T. Shipley and J. Zacks, 31–54. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chastrette, M. 2002. Classification of Odors and structures-odor relationships. In Olfaction, taste & cognition, ed. C. Rouby, B. Schaal, D. Dubois, R. Gervais, and A. Holley, 100–116. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Classen, C. 1993. Worlds of senses: Exploring the senses in history and across cultures. New York: Routledge.
Classen, C., D. Howes, and A. Synnott. 1994. Aroma: The cultural history of smell. New York: Routledge.
Coo, R., P. Kay, and T. Regier. 2005. The world color survey database. In Handbook of categorization in cognitive science, ed. H. Cohen and C. Lefevre, 50–76. Oxford: Elsevier.
David, S. 1997. Représentations sensorielles et marques de la personne : contrastes entre olfaction et audition. In Catégorisation et Cognition : De la perception au discours, ed. D. Dubois, 211–242. Paris: Kimé.
———. 2000. Certitudes et incertitudes dans les domaines olfactif, gustatif et auditif. In Espaces sensoriels et formes lexicales, ed. D. Dubois, 77–108. Paris: LCPE (INaLF-CNRS).
———. 2002. Linguistic expressions of Odors in French. In Olfaction, taste, and cognition, ed. C. Rouby, B. Schaal, A. Holley, D. Dubois, and R. Gervais, 82–99. London: Cambridge University Press.
David, S., D. Dubois, C. Rouby, and B. Schaal. 1997. L’expression des odeurs en français : analyse lexicale et représentation cognitive. Intellectica 1 (24): 51–83.
Delepaut, G. 2002. Mise en discours d’un parcours olfactif (Unpublished master’s thesis). Université de Paris III.
Delon-Martin, C., J. Plailly, P. Fonlupt, A. Veyrac, and J.-P. Royet. 2013. Perfumers’ expertise induces structural reorganization in olfactory brain regions. NeuroImage 68: 55–62.
Descola, P. 2005. Par-delà nature et culture. Paris: Gallimard.
Doucet, S., R. Soussignan, P. Sagot, and B. Schaal. 2007. The smellscape of mother’s breast: Effects of odor masking and selective unmasking on neonatal arousal, oral, and visual responses. Developmental Psychobiology 49 (2): 129–138.
Douglas, M. 1966. Purity and danger. London: Routledge.
Dubois, D. 2000. Categories as acts of meaning: The case of categories in olfaction and audition. Cognitive Science Quarterly 1: 35–68.
———. 2006a. Des catégories d’odorants à la sémantique des odeurs : une approche cognitive de l’olfaction. Terrain 47: 89–106.
———. 2006b. From psychophysics to semiophysics: Categories as acts of meaning: A case study from olfaction and audition, back to colors. In Speaking of colors and odors. An interdisciplinary approach to cognitive and linguistic categorization of color vision and olfaction, ed. M. Plumacher and P. Holz, 45–119. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
———. 2017. How words for sensory experiences become terms: A cognitive approach. Terminology 23 (1): 9–37.
———. 2021. Smell: An unspeakable sensory experience? In Sensory experiences: Exploring meaning and the senses, ed. D. Dubois, C. Cance, M. Coler, A. Paté, and C. Guastavino. Benjamins.
Dubois, D., and C. Cance. 2021. Taste as a holisensory experience. In Sensory experiences: Exploring meaning and the senses, ed. D. Dubois, C. Cance, M. Coler, A. Paté, and C. Guastavino. Benjamins.
Dubois, and P. Resche-Rigon. 2009. La construction des catégories sémantiques en discours : l’exemple des couleurs et des odeurs. Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki 78: 405–418.
Dubois, D., and C. Rouby. 2002. Odor and their names, the veridical label revisited. In Olfaction, taste, and cognition, ed. C. Rouby, B. Schaal, A. Holley, D. Dubois, and R. Gervais, 47–66. London: Cambridge University Press.
Dubois, D., R. Bourgine, and P. Resche-Rigon. 1992. Connaissances et expertises finalisées de divers acteurs économiques dans la catégorisation d’un objet perceptif. Intellectica 15 (3): 241–271.
Dubois, D., C. Guastavino, and M. Raimbault. 2006. A cognitive approach to urban sound- scapes: Using verbal data to access everyday life auditory categories. Acta Acustica united with Acustica 92 (6): 865–874.
Dubois, D., C. Cance, M. Coler, A. Paté, and C. Guastavino., eds. 2021. Sensory experiences: Exploring meaning and the senses. Amsterdam, NL: Benjamins.
Ellena, J.-C. 1953. Le parfum dans le système des beaux-arts. Industrie de la Parfumerie.
Engen, T. 1987. Remembering odors and their names. American Scientist 75 (5): 497–503.
Floyd, S., L.S. Roque, and A. Majid. 2018. Smell is coded in grammar and frequent in discourse: Cha’palaa olfactory language in cross-linguistic perspective. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 28 (2): 175–196.
Goody, J. 1977. The domestication of the savage mind. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Godinot, N., G. Sicard, and D. Dubois. 1995. Categories, familiarity and unpleasantness of odors. Odours VOC’s J 3: 202–208.
Guastavino, C. 2021. Exploring soundscape. In Exploring sensory experience: A handbook on meaning and the senses, ed. D. Dubois, C. Cance, M. Coler, A. Paté, and C. Guastavino. Benjamins.
Greimas, A.J., and J. Courtès. 1979. Sémiotique Dictionnaire Raisonné de la Théorie du Langage. Paris: Hachette.
Harper, R. 1966. On odor classification. Journal of Food Science and Technology 1: 167–176.
Hombert, J.-M., M. Mouélé, C. Rouby, B. Schaal, and G. Sicard. 2016. Basic odour terms in Li-Wanzi (a Bantu language spoken in Gabon): An experimental approach. In Words for odours: Language skills and cultural insights, ed. M. Barkat-Defradas and E. Motte-Florac, 135–146. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Howes, D. 1986. Le sens sans parole : vers une anthropologie de l’odorat. Anthropologie et sociétés 10 (3): 29–46.
———. 1991. The varieties of sensory experience: A source book in the anthropology of the senses. Toronto: Toronto University Press.
Johnston, J., and S. Baumann. 2014. Foodies: Democracy and distinction in the gourmet foodscape. Routledge.
Kang, J., and B. Schulte-Fortkamp. 2015. Soundscape and the built environment. Cambrigde, MA: CRC Press Taylor & Francis.
Kleiber, G., and M. Vuillaume. 2011. Sémantique des odeurs. Langages 181 (1): 17–36.
Köster, E., P. Moller, and J. Mojet. 2014. A misfit theory of spontaneous conscious odor perception (MITSCOP): Reflections on the role and function of odor memory in everyday life. Frontiers in Psychology, Cognitive Science 5 (Special issue Applied olfactory cognition): 29–43.
Kristol, A. 1978. Les langues romanes devant le phénomène de la couleur. Bern: Francke.
Lakoff, G. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Laska, M., and P. Teubner. 1999. Olfactory discrimination ability in human subjects for ten pairs of enantiomers. Chemical Senses 24 (2): 161–170.
Latour, B. 1999. Circulating reference: Sampling the soil in the Amazon forest. In Pandora’s hope: Essays on the reality of science studies, ed. B. Latour, 24–79. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Latour, B., and S. Woolgar. 1979. The construction of scientific facts. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lawless, H.T. 1989. Exploration of fragrance categories and ambiguous odors using multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Chemical Senses 14 (3): 349–360.
Le Breton, D. 2006. La saveur du monde : une anthropologie des sens. Paris: Métaillé. English version (2017): Sensing the World: An Anthropology of the Senses. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Lévi-Strauss, C. 1962. La pensée sauvage. Paris: Plon.
Magnard, J.-L., A. Roccia, J.-C. Caissard, P. Vergne, P. Sun, R. Hecquet, and S. Baudino. 2015. Biosynthesis of monoterpene scent compounds in roses. Science 3449 (6243): 81–83. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab0696.
Majid, A., and S.C. Levinson. 2007. Language of perception: Overview of field tasks. In Field manual, ed. A. Majid, vol. 10, 8–9. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.
———. 2011. The senses in language and culture. The Senses and Society 6 (1): 5–18. https://doi.org/10.2752/174589311X12893982233551.
Majid, A., G. Senft, and S.C. Levinson. 2007. The language of olfaction. In Field manual, vol. 10, 36–41. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.
Morgan, K., and R. Sonnino. 2010. The urban foodscape: World cities and the new food equation. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3 (2): 209–224.
Mouélé, M. 1997. L’apprentissage des odeurs chez les Wanzi. Enfance 1: 209–222.
Paté, A., and P. Gaillard. 2021. Exploring and talking about music. In Sensory experiences: Exploring meaning and the senses, ed. D. Dubois, C. Cance, M. Coler, A. Paté, and C. Guastavino. Benjamins.
Plümacher, M., and P. Holz. 2006. Speaking of colors and odors. An interdisciplinary approach to cognitive and linguistic categorization of color vision and olfaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Rastier, F. 1991. Sémantique et recherches cognitives. Paris: P. U. F. English version : Rastier, F. (2006). Semantics and cognitive research, translation by Larry Marks. Available online at http://www.revue-texto.net/Parutions/Livres-E/Rastier_SCR/Semantics-and-cognitive-research.pdf, consulted on April 14 2020.
Rastier, F. 2006. Semantics and cognitive research. Available online at http://www.revue-texto.net/Parutions/Livres-E/Rastier_SCR/Semantics-and-cognitive-research.pdf
Rosch, E. 1978. Human categorization. In Advances in cross cultural Psychology, ed. N.Warren. London, UK: Academic Press.
Rosch, E., and B. Lloyd. 1978. Principles of categorization. In Cognition and categorization, ed. E. Rosch and B. Lloyd, 27–48. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Rouby, C., B. Schaal, D. Dubois, R. Gervais, and A. Holley. 2002. Olfaction, taste & cognition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Roudnitska, E. 1991. Une vie au service du parfum. Paris: Thérèse Vian Editions.
San Roque, L. 2019. Evidentiality. Annual Review of Anthropology 48: 353–370.
San Roque, L., S. Floyd, and E. Norcliffe. 2017. Evidentiality and interrogativity. Lingua 186: 120–143.
San Roque, L., K. Kendrick, E. Norcliffe, P. Brown, R. Defina, M. Dingemanse, and A. Majid. 2015. Vision verbs dominate in conversation across cultures, but the ranking of non-visual verbs varies. Cognitive Linguistics 26 (1): 31–60.
Sardanac, P. (2011, August). Face à la demande de création d’un été palestinien. L’armée se prépare. Dernières nouvelles d’Alsace.
Schaal, B. 2013. Comment les émotions se transforment en odeurs : vers l’hypothèse de la contagion émotionnelle olfactive. In Odeurs et émotions, le nez a ses raisons, ed. B. Schaal, C. Ferdenzi, and O. Wathelet, 293–335. Dijon: Éditions Universitaires.
Schafer, R. 1977. The tuning of the world. Knopf.
Sicard, G., M. Chastrette, and N. Godinot. 1997. Des représentations de l’espace olfactif : des récepteurs à la perception. Intellectica 24 (1): 84–107.
Sobel, N., V. Prabhakaran, J.E. Desmond, G.H. Glover, R.L. Goode, E.V. Sullivan, and J.D. Gabrieli. 1998. Sniffing and smelling: Separate subsystems in the human olfactory cortex. Nature 392 (6673): 282.
Spinelli, S. 2018. Semiotics and sensory sciences: Meaning between texts and numbers. In Quantitative semiotic analysis, 75–100. Springer.
Vassiliadou, H. 2016. Sémantique des odeurs dans le discours culinaire grec et français. Cahiers balkaniques, Manger en Grèce, 353–377.
Vigarello, G. 1987. Le Propre et le sale. L’hygiène du corps depuis le Moyen âge. Paris: Seuil.
Vion, R. 2009. De la subjectivité en discours aux discours sur la subjectivité. In Le sentir et le dire, ed. D. Dubois, 367–391. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Warnier, J.-P. 1999. Construire la culture matérielle: l’homme qui pensait avec ses doigts. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Wiergowski, M., R. Huaser, M. Kaliszan, and J. Jankowski. 1994, July. A study of olfactory marks of fear in the rat and in humans. In Proceedings of the 12th chemical signals in vertebrates symposium. Tubingen.
Zola, É. 1964. Germinal. Paris: Gallimard.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dubois, D. (2022). Towards a Situated Cognitive Approach of Olfactory experiences and Languages. In: Di Stefano, N., Russo, M.T. (eds) Olfaction: An Interdisciplinary Perspective from Philosophy to Life Sciences. Human Perspectives in Health Sciences and Technology, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75205-7_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75205-7_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-75204-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-75205-7
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)