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Unpacking the language of taste — A study of gustatory descriptions in Swedish laypeople and trained experts.

Berg, Ture LU (2025) ALSK13 20242
Division of Linguistics and Cognitive Semiotics
General Linguistics
Abstract
Eating and drinking evoke complex sensory experiences and articulating them through language is often challenging. Differences between laypeople and sensory experts may offer valuable insights into how gustatory experiences are communicated. This is important because describing flavor in clear and shared terms is essential when experts and non-experts need to understand each other,
whether in food development, education, or research. This study examines how expertise shapes flavor descriptions, focusing on linguistic codability. By analyzing elicited descriptions of gustatory stimuli from Swedish laypeople and sensory experts, differences in lexical precision, agreement, and differentiation in gustatory language are investigated. The... (More)
Eating and drinking evoke complex sensory experiences and articulating them through language is often challenging. Differences between laypeople and sensory experts may offer valuable insights into how gustatory experiences are communicated. This is important because describing flavor in clear and shared terms is essential when experts and non-experts need to understand each other,
whether in food development, education, or research. This study examines how expertise shapes flavor descriptions, focusing on linguistic codability. By analyzing elicited descriptions of gustatory stimuli from Swedish laypeople and sensory experts, differences in lexical precision, agreement, and differentiation in gustatory language are investigated. The results show that experts exhibit greater lexical precision and a broader vocabulary. However, both groups show comparable agreement in basic taste identification with no significant differences in response time. The findings indicate that even though experts exhibit a broader and more precise vocabulary, similarities
between the groups and variation within both groups might suggest that linguistic encoding of flavor is influenced not only by expertise, but also by individual factors. These findings deepen our understanding of how language represents sensory experience and how differences in expertise impact the way we talk about flavor. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Berg, Ture LU
supervisor
organization
course
ALSK13 20242
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
linguistics, sensory linguistics, gustatory language, taste descriptions, flavor descriptions, sensory evaluation, sensory marketing, experts, laypeople, language production, Swedish
language
English
id
9189902
date added to LUP
2025-05-26 13:34:33
date last changed
2025-05-26 13:34:33
@misc{9189902,
  abstract     = {{Eating and drinking evoke complex sensory experiences and articulating them through language is often challenging. Differences between laypeople and sensory experts may offer valuable insights into how gustatory experiences are communicated. This is important because describing flavor in clear and shared terms is essential when experts and non-experts need to understand each other,
whether in food development, education, or research. This study examines how expertise shapes flavor descriptions, focusing on linguistic codability. By analyzing elicited descriptions of gustatory stimuli from Swedish laypeople and sensory experts, differences in lexical precision, agreement, and differentiation in gustatory language are investigated. The results show that experts exhibit greater lexical precision and a broader vocabulary. However, both groups show comparable agreement in basic taste identification with no significant differences in response time. The findings indicate that even though experts exhibit a broader and more precise vocabulary, similarities
between the groups and variation within both groups might suggest that linguistic encoding of flavor is influenced not only by expertise, but also by individual factors. These findings deepen our understanding of how language represents sensory experience and how differences in expertise impact the way we talk about flavor.}},
  author       = {{Berg, Ture}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Unpacking the language of taste — A study of gustatory descriptions in Swedish laypeople and trained experts.}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}