2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
An Examination on "one-directional hypothesis" of a Synesthesia metaphor
| Project/Area Number |
19720096
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Linguistics
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| Research Institution | University of the Ryukyus |
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Principal Investigator |
MUTO Ayaka University of the Ryukyus, 留学生センター, 講師 (00412809)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2007 – 2010
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| Keywords | 共感覚的比喩 / 一方向性仮説 / 言語普遍性 / 生理学的普遍 / 身体性 / 生得性 / 経験的基盤 / 五感 |
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| Research Abstract |
The "one direction" tendency, in terms of synesthesia metaphors, is the consistent diversion of a word"s basic meaning to emphasize a sensation from another sense category. The "one direction" tendency in synesthesia metaphors is assumed to be a linguistic universal, and is referred to as the "One Direction Hypothesis."
To address these concerns, this research focused on the following three points
1) First, meaning diversion in 15 languages from "sight" and "touch" to other senses was investigated as a pilot survey. As a result of this investigation, the numbers of examples diverted from "touch" were found to be more than the number of "sight" expressions in all the languages surveyed. However, diversion examples from "sight" were also found in all the languages without exception. Therefore, it can be said that the results of this investigation were as follows. Although the One Direction Hypothesis is not absolute, the tendency of meaning diversion in all 15 languages was found to support this hypothesis.
2)Next, the meaning diversion from "sight" "hearing" "touch" "taste" and "smell" to another senses was investigated among 60 native speakers in English and French. The results of the previous pilot survey were confirmed by this investigation. Thus, it became clear that the tendency of the direction of the meaning diversion generally supported the "one-way hypothesis" across all sense categories. In addition, the data contained many examples counter to the One Direction Hypothesis. However, among the exceptions found, it is noteworthy that only "smell→taste" counter-examples frequently occur in both English and French.
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