Linguistic Synesthesia
Linguistic Synesthesia
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Linguistic synesthesias combine different senses, as in English smooth melody (touch→sound). For nearly a century, researchers have gathered data that has been interpreted as supporting the notion of a hierarchical ordering of the senses. According to this proposal, expressions map the presumed-to-be 'lower' senses of touch, taste, and smell onto the presumed-to-be 'higher' senses of sound and sight. Here, this proposal is tested in the first-ever meta-analysis of linguistic synesthesias, combining thirty-eight datasets from fourteen different languages. The authors demonstrate that clear patterns emerge from the data, but many such patterns are inconsistent with the notion of a linear hierarchical order or a simple lower/higher divide of the senses. This calls for a shift in what theories are considered to be viable for explaining asymmetries between the senses in linguistic synesthesia.
Product details
July 2025Hardback
9781009519168
75 pages
229 × 152 mm
Not yet published - available from July 2025
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Why a meta-analysis of linguistic synesthesia is needed
- 3. The hierarchy of the senses: evidence and theory
- 4. Methods
- 5. Analysis #1: Hierarchy congruency
- 6. Analysis #2: source/target ratios
- 7. Analysis #3: pairwise asymmetry
- 8. Analysis #4: specific mappings
- 9. Discussion
- 10. Conclusion and outlook for future research on linguistic synesthesia
- References.
