Zmysł smaku : studium leksykalno-semantyczne

Abstract

The following book presents a meticulous description of the sense of taste from the perspective of linguistics. The analysis of both former and contemporary lexis which belong to the semantic field of taste – hereby referred to as the lexis of taste – is provided with a historico-cultural commentary which concerns the Polish penchant for taste over the centuries, as well as the shaping of Polish cuisine. The analysis of linguistic facts finds interdisciplinary complementation in the following fields: biology, psychology, chemistry and history. Metalinguistic references taken up in this study are correlative to the lexical analysis of the sense of taste, which duly places the book within the scope of interdisciplinary studies. This book’s linguistic data is derived from nine general and historical dictionaries of the Polish language, as well as directly from the sources. The lexis in question encompasses, among others, the noun smak (taste) along with its former equivalent – ukuszenie; adjectives refering to four basic taste qualities, e.g. salty, sweet, sour, and bitter, as well as their derivatives. Moreover, the study provides a description of derivatives of the following nouns: salt, honey, sugar, vinegar, lemon, wormwood, and bile, or names of the most characteristic products which represent particular taste from the historical perspective. However, derivations based on the previously stated words are not the subject of the proposed analysis, but lexemes whose meaning connotes the sense of taste (exclusive of words such as sugar bowl, patisserie, and brine). Observations are made with regard to basic as well as metaphorical lexis of taste. The book consists of the introduction, seven chapters and conclusions. The subsequent chapters take up theoretical and general issues which deal with the perception of taste (chapter one), provide the analysis of lexis refering to the notion of taste (chapter two), to particular tastes (chapters three to six), as well as the phenomenon of synaesthesia (chapter seven). The book ends with a list of tables used in the thesis, a list of abbreviations, sources, and index.