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Article published In: Food and terminology: Expressing sensory experience in several languages
Edited by Rita Temmerman and Danièle Dubois
[Terminology 23:1] 2017
► pp. 9–37

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How words for sensory experiences become terms

A cognitive approach

 | Université Pierre et Marie Curie |
Published online: 10 November 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/term.23.1.01dub
Given the double nature of experiencing food as individual as well as shared experience and knowledge, the question is how to connect the observed variability of expressing such a sensory experience with a normalized requirement for developing (food) terminology. On the basis of descriptions of food experiences in actual practices involving the way food is consumed, evaluated and expressed by individuals – experts or not – in all their diversity, we propose to contribute cognitive (psychological and linguistic) expertise to terminology research. We analyze terms as cognitive units, defined within a psychological theory of natural categories as acts of meaning. In tracking the processes of terminological meaning construction in discourse we find intersubjective experience within the complex process of terminologization.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Positioning
    • 2.1From food to taste as sensory experience of food
    • 2.2Experiencing food: Knowledges and discourses
    • 2.3Experiencing food, linguistics and terminology
    • 2.4Terminology and cognitive sciences
    • 2.5Terminology and sensory sciences
  • 3.Empirical contributions
    • 3.1Language resources for taste and other senses
      • 3.1.1Colors vs smell
      • 3.1.2Goût or Saveur ? Taste or flavor?
    • 3.2Sensory experiences and knowledges in wine descriptions
    • 3.3Terms: Word meaning constitution in discourse
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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