Olfaction in Aslian ideology and language
(2011) In The Senses & Society 6(1). p.19-29- Abstract
- The cognitive- and neuro-sciences have supposed that the perceptual world of the individual is dominated by vision, followed closely by audition, but that olfaction is merely vestigial. Aslian-speaking communities (Austroasiatic, Malay Peninsula) challenge this view. For the Jahai — a small group of rainforest foragers — odor plays a central role in both culture and language. Jahai ideology revolves around a complex set of beliefs which structures the human relationship with the supernatural. Central to this relationship are hearing, vision and olfaction. In Jahai language, olfaction also receives special attention. There are at least a dozen or so abstract descriptive odor categories that are basic, everyday terms. This lexical... (More)
- The cognitive- and neuro-sciences have supposed that the perceptual world of the individual is dominated by vision, followed closely by audition, but that olfaction is merely vestigial. Aslian-speaking communities (Austroasiatic, Malay Peninsula) challenge this view. For the Jahai — a small group of rainforest foragers — odor plays a central role in both culture and language. Jahai ideology revolves around a complex set of beliefs which structures the human relationship with the supernatural. Central to this relationship are hearing, vision and olfaction. In Jahai language, olfaction also receives special attention. There are at least a dozen or so abstract descriptive odor categories that are basic, everyday terms. This lexical elaboration of odor is not unique to the Jahai but can seen across many contemporary Austroasiatic languages and transcends major cultural and environmental boundaries. These terms appear to be inherited from ancestral language states, suggesting a long-standing preoccupation with odor in this part of the world. Contrary to the prevailing assumption in the cognitive sciences, these languages and cultures demonstrate that odor is far from vestigial in humans. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1685015
- author
- Burenhult, Niclas LU and Majid, Asifa
- organization
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Jahai, language of perception, Aslian, Austroasiatic, olfaction
- in
- The Senses & Society
- volume
- 6
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 19 - 29
- publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000287770100002
- scopus:79951808792
- ISSN
- 1745-8935
- DOI
- 10.2752/174589311X12893982233597
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Linguistics and Phonetics (015010003)
- id
- 63990bf9-ceb4-40fe-91ca-c6547cce46c1 (old id 1685015)
- alternative location
- http://pubman.mpdl.mpg.de/pubman/item/escidoc:446251:18/component/escidoc:752550/Burenhult_Majid_Olfactions_Aslian_Ideology_Sens&Soc_2011.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 13:00:29
- date last changed
- 2023-11-30 20:28:38
@article{63990bf9-ceb4-40fe-91ca-c6547cce46c1,
abstract = {{The cognitive- and neuro-sciences have supposed that the perceptual world of the individual is dominated by vision, followed closely by audition, but that olfaction is merely vestigial. Aslian-speaking communities (Austroasiatic, Malay Peninsula) challenge this view. For the Jahai — a small group of rainforest foragers — odor plays a central role in both culture and language. Jahai ideology revolves around a complex set of beliefs which structures the human relationship with the supernatural. Central to this relationship are hearing, vision and olfaction. In Jahai language, olfaction also receives special attention. There are at least a dozen or so abstract descriptive odor categories that are basic, everyday terms. This lexical elaboration of odor is not unique to the Jahai but can seen across many contemporary Austroasiatic languages and transcends major cultural and environmental boundaries. These terms appear to be inherited from ancestral language states, suggesting a long-standing preoccupation with odor in this part of the world. Contrary to the prevailing assumption in the cognitive sciences, these languages and cultures demonstrate that odor is far from vestigial in humans.}},
author = {{Burenhult, Niclas and Majid, Asifa}},
issn = {{1745-8935}},
keywords = {{Jahai; language of perception; Aslian; Austroasiatic; olfaction}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{19--29}},
publisher = {{Bloomsbury Publishing}},
series = {{The Senses & Society}},
title = {{Olfaction in Aslian ideology and language}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/174589311X12893982233597}},
doi = {{10.2752/174589311X12893982233597}},
volume = {{6}},
year = {{2011}},
}