Significance

This study examines the crossmodal expressions that engage one of the most primitive perceptions, that is, flavor. Through a reliable and in-depth examination of the data collected from 10 hours of recordings, this study aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the crossmodality taking place in linguistic performances. At the semantic level, several meanings of perceptual modifiers within certain contexts are developed to reveal the crossmodality in words as well as the metaphorical effect based on the perceptual resemblances and primitive conceptual structures from the ICM. We employ concepts from similar discourse studies on wine reviews and suggest three forms of synesthetic expressions that represent the metaphorical and crossmodal strategies used by the tasters in our data. At the pragmatic level, we investigate the communicative functions of the three synesthetic metaphorical forms created by either the tasters or the audience when expressing their sensations of flavor in detail. A simplified version of the definitions of the three synesthetic metaphorical forms is presented below (for more details on the definition of each strategy, see Chapter 3).

Synesthetic Metaphors: The crossmodal metaphors that involve the perceptual interactions of TOUCH, SIGHT, TASTE, and SMELL are regarded as synesthetic metaphors. Three regulations concerning directionality and tendencies are as follows: (1) the lower (i.e., primitive and lacking sufficient scientific investigation) senses serve the source domain, while the higher (i.e., advanced and well-developed in scientific researches) senses serve the target domain; (2) tactility is the predominant source in terms of the accessibility of crossmodal transfers; (3)

and the transferring directionality is “touch à smell à taste à hearing à vision.”

A modified directionality of crossmodal mappings in flavor descriptions is thereafter proposed in the present study to gain a precise understanding of the linguistic crossmodal interactions of flavor.

Synesthetic Metonymy: Following the definition of synesthetic metonymization established by Paradis and Eeg-Olofsson (2013), the crossmodal metonymies included in the present study are in fact the results of zone activation. Paralleled with the figure-ground effect, two mechanisms are considered as the strategies of this metonymization: (1) foregrounding, meaning the elevation of a certain perceptual aspect from the property modifiers and (2) backgrounding, signifying the inhibition of other perceptual aspects contained in the knowledge of single modifiers. Lastly, the innate conceptual metaphors of MORE IS HEAVY, MORE IS DENSE,and MORE IS THICK are situated in synesthetic metonymies, allowing the accessibility of shifting aspects.

Synesthetic Simile: Synesthetic simile is a form extended from imagistic metaphor, which is also known as image metaphor (Lakoff, 1987b). This involves the application of mental images based on primitive cognitive theories such as the prototype effect (Lakoff, 1987a; Langacker, 1987) and the image schema (Clausner

& Croft, 1999; Lakoff, 1987c). In our findings, synesthetic similes function by gathering and recalling many perceptions from conceptions (i.e., property, event, or subject) when smells and tastes are described.

Using these three synesthetic metaphorical forms, we propose a revised version of crossmodal tendency and directionality, which enables us to find results that contribute to crossmodal expression research. In addition, the analysis provides us with more extensive knowledge of how human perception and cognition are reflected in linguistic descriptions.

For instance, the synesthetic metaphor of ACIDITY IS LIGHT, which evokes a perceptual or emotional similarity between the taster and the audience while utilizing the two modalities of SIGHT and TASTE, is frequently used by tasters, according to the present data (for more details on other frequent crossmodal metaphors that evoke perceptual and emotional empathy between the speakers and the audience, see Chapter 4).

The sensations of smell, taste, and flavor shared by people have long been considered too instinctive, subjective, elusive, and abstract for the instrumental convergence of language to convey. Our study is one of the first to deal with the intricacy of “reconceptualizing perceptual feelings in functions from both cognitive and perceptual perspectives within the context of crossmodality.” Our analyses of synesthetic metaphorical forms demonstrate that the flavor expressions given by all food critics play a crucial role in transforming primitive perceptions into language. In particular, the application of synesthetic metaphorical forms is a unique strategy used by speakers to strike a chord with an audience and achieve their communicative goals.

The identification of Taiwan Mandarin counterparts to English flavor descriptors is rarely possible, while the language of savoring experiences in Taiwan Mandarin is not well studied. Our study aims to examine flavor expressions in Taiwan Mandarin and to gain more perspectives to approach the conceptualization of flavor. Our methodology includes the collection of data from professional coffee tasting trainings (i.e., Coffee Cupping Lesson). In

total, the verbal data of 45 Taiwanese coffee tasters’ descriptions and explanations of the complex flavors of coffee were manually transcribed from the coffee cupping recordings.

In sum, compared with the crossmodal discourse analyses from previous researches, the present thesis advances a significant step in the study of crossmodal linguistic expressions by tackling flavor conceptualizations in Taiwan Mandarin. A thorough literature review reveals that only a few researches are concerned with the metaphorical mappings of flavor as the target domain, and that no linguistic studies comparing flavor and other perceptions in Taiwan Mandarin have been conducted. Besides analyzing metaphors, the present research analyzes synesthetic similes, highlighting their function as expressive and rooted mechanisms. They enable us to go beyond the boundary of time and space. Finally, we reveal the miscellaneous facets of synesthetic metaphorical expressions in terms of their linguistic and perceptual crossmodal transfers.