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The cultural cognition of taste term conflation

Osawa, Yoshimi, Ellen, Roy F. (2014) The cultural cognition of taste term conflation. The Senses and Society, 9 (1). pp. 72-91. ISSN 1745-8927. E-ISSN 1745-8935. (doi:10.2752/174589314X13834112761083) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:52763)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://www.dx.doi.org/10.2752/174589314X1383411276...

Abstract

Languages vary in the number of descriptive terms for the four basic taste stimuli - sweet, sour, salty and bitter, and for the glutamate stimulus. Some languages regularly present terms that link sour/bitter, salt/sweet and glutamate/salty. However, in other languages where these tastes are lexically encoded speakers vary between each other, and in their ability to use terms consistently. What may seem like confusion we suggest might better be described as conflation resulting from changes in the ecology and culture of food. Moreover, these patterns highlight the underlying dynamic of taste cognition, and how variation associated with taste cognition arises. Using comparative data from secondary sources, freelisting tests and experimental data from a recent study of Japanese and British English speakers, this paper seeks to shed light on these issues.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.2752/174589314X13834112761083
Uncontrolled keywords: taste, cognition, folk terminology, food culture
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Roy Ellen
Date Deposited: 07 Dec 2015 08:21 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 10:59 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/52763 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Ellen, Roy F..

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