Showing papers by "Penelope Brown published in 2011"
TL;DR: The authors report on sensory expressions in the Mayan language Tzeltal, spoken in southeastern Mexico, and examine words characterizing sensations in the domains of color and taste, using a limited set of basic terms along with productive word-formation processes of compounding and reduplication to produce words that distinguish particular complex sensations or gestalts.
Abstract: Within a given language and culture, distinct sensory modalities are often given differential linguistic treatment in ways reflecting cultural ideas about, and uses for, the senses. This article reports on sensory expressions in the Mayan language Tzeltal, spoken in southeastern Mexico. Drawing both on data derived from Tzeltal consultants' responses to standardized sensory elicitation stimuli and on sensory descriptions produced in more natural contexts, I examine words characterizing sensations in the domains of color and taste. In just these two domains, a limited set of basic terms along with productive word-formation processes of compounding and reduplication are used in analogous ways to produce words that distinguish particular complex sensations or gestalts: e.g. in the color domain, yax-boj-boj (yax ‘grue’ + boj ‘cut’), of mouth stained green from eating green vegetables, or, in the taste domain, chi'-pik-pik (chi' ‘sweet/salty’ + pik ‘touch’) of a slightly prickly salty taste. I relate t...
11 citations