Abstract
Descriptors of sensory experience are known to be crucial in trying to objectify the world. New descriptors are coined to express the enhanced experience of a reality experienced by human beings. In this article we illustrate the cognitive and cross-cultural framing for verbalizing sensory experience discussing the indeterminacy and vagueness of the wine descriptor minerality and the successful universal neologism smoothie, a product name for a new product. Both case studies concern units of understanding that are difficult to define but that are related to products with high marketing potential. First we refer to the expert literature in food studies dealing with minerality and smoothies. Then we report on observations based on discourse oriented empirical heuristics and surveying. Finally we discuss in how far experiencing food and drinks is culture-bound and language-specific, which implies that translating food descriptions may be a daunting task.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 132-154 |
Number of pages | 23 |
Journal | Terminology |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2017 |
Event | Food and Translation - University of Catania, Catania, Italy Duration: 19 May 2016 → 21 May 2016 |
Keywords
- Innovation and language
- Marketing and terminology
- Minerality in wine
- Neologisms
- Sensory descriptors
- Smoothie
- Socio-cognitive terminology
- Translation of descriptors