Building a cross-cultural semantic framework for odor vocabularies

Describing smells is often difficult, yet research suggests that the vocabularies to express odor experiences vary widely between languages. Are odor vocabularies, despite this difference, similar on a deeper semantic level? This project will investigate whether a shared odor-semantic space exists, akin to that of colors. Using a large-scale cross-linguistic study, we will analyze odor vocabularies of 20 culturally distinct languages. The projects’ key objectives are 1) to characterize how the vocabularies differ in abstraction (the presence of dedicated odor terms) and codability (consistency in term use), 2) to map their semantic organization and identify common dimensions such as valence (pleasantness) and edibility, and 3) to develop a cross-cultural odor lexicon translatable across languages and representative of the perceptual odor space. Through a collaboration in the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, we will collect data on odor descriptors and odor-perceptual ratings for 60 odors in 20 countries. We will also collect data on the descriptors’ semantic properties and odor applicability and systematically compare the languages' odor vocabularies. Our findings will advance understanding of the interplay between language, culture, and odor perception and provide an empirically based resource for further research and practical applications. The project is interdisciplinary and offers novel insights into a fundamental yet underexplored aspect of human experience.