Reviewed by Karen Steffen Chung, National Taiwan University

This book is an edited collection of papers presented at an Autumn 2002 conference held at the University of Bremen that asked the question, ‘How can language cope with color and smell?’ It contains thirteen unnumbered chapters, with the first serving as an overview of the entire volume. It is a groundbreaking work in that while quite a bit has been written on color, little attention has thus far been paid in linguistics to the language of scents and odors.

Some papers in this collection focus on the particular relationship between language and smells. One possible explanation for why this relationship tends to be ignored is because smells are analyzed directly by the brain’s limbic system before being processed by the neocortex, especially in the right hemisphere (7). In the chapter titled ‘Odor memory: The unique nature of a memory system’(155–65), Gesualdo M. Zucco explains how this input is then saved directly as emotional memories, which unlike linguistic memories do not seem to deteriorate at all over time. Perhaps then it is not surprising that there tend to be few standardized, precise adjectives to describe smells. Peter Holz in ‘Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement’ (185–202) writes that one can refer to smells hedonistically (e.g. pleasant), iconically (e.g. it smells like peppermint), indexically (e.g. it smells burnt), or metaphorically (e.g. your perfume smells hot). Scent descriptions must often rely heavily on linguistic synesthesia and poetic means (e.g. fresh, flowery, spicy). This poverty of a vocabulary of olfaction seems to be nearly universal in human languages, something Volker Heeschen verified in ‘Attractiveness and adornment: Reference to colors and smells in Papuan speech communities’ (85–111).

Some papers in this collection address more general issues relating to how colors are perceived.. Wolfgang Wildgen in ‘Color, smell, and language: The semiotic nature of perception and language’ (19–34) describes the differences between experts and non-experts in perceiving and describing color. ‘How can language cope with color? Functional aspects of the nervous system’ (35–60) by Manfred Fahle examines the phenomenon of perception constancy: how colors are perceived to be the same despite appearing very different in changing light. Martina Plümacher analyzes how the relational ordering of colors according to hue, brightness, and saturation enables speakers to differentiate colors and shades linguistically in ‘Color perception, color description and metaphor’ (61–84). Andrea Graumann’s chapter, ‘Color names and dynamic imagery’ (129–40), examines color naming in automobile advertising. More specifically, she points out how complex names such as imola red enhance a product’s allure through potent mental associations, in this case with Formula One racing. In ‘Color terms between elegance and beauty: The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics’ (113–28), Siegfried Wyler finds that textiles and cosmetics are seldom described as red or yellow. Instead, color names tend to be taken from objects in the external world, e.g. light pistachio and Café Latte. Susanne Niemeier in ‘From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English’ (141–54) notes the importance in foreign language learning of understanding color metonymies and other meaning extensions, such as blue moon and blue murder. In her paper ‘From psychophysics to semiophysics: Categories as acts of meaning. A case study from olfaction and audition, back to colors’ (167–84), Danièle Dubois attempts to establish linguistic categories of color and olfaction. Yoshikata Shibuya, Hajime Nozawa, and Toshiyuki Kanamaru construct a physiological and psychological model of synesthetic expressions such as warm color in ‘Understanding synesthetic expressions: Vision and olfaction with the physiological = psychological model’ (203–26). Finally, Tatiana V. Chernigovskaya and Viktor V. Arshavsky in ‘Olfactory and visual processing and verbalization: Cross-cultural and neurosemiotic dimensions’ (227–38) discuss the neurological basis for olfactory and visual preferences governing human behavior, and contrast right- and left-hemispheric sensory processing.

English is not the native language of any of the contributors to this volume, so the writing is dotted with foreign-sounding turns of phrase such as ‘on one side…on the other side’ (57), in addition to a number of minor typographical errors that hopefully will be eliminated from the next edition. For readers with a particular interest in linguistic descriptions of color and smell, this volume is a worthy reference.