Olfactory Language Requires an Integrative and Interdisciplinary Approach

Olfaction was poignantly dubbed the ‘mute sense’ by Diane Ackerman [ 1. D. A Natural History of Senses. Vintage Books, 1990 Google Scholar ], and it is regularly claimed that modern ancient languages lack resources to communicate about smells 2. Bradley M. Smell Ancient Routledge, 2015 ]. In a recent article 3. Majid A. Human olfaction at intersection language, culture, biology. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2021; 25: 111-123 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (19) I argued such conclusions are untenable in face emerging crosscultural evidence: numerous around world have sizeable lexicons for expressing smell qualities; can be encoded grammar; talk more frequent some cultures; under experimental conditions, naming odors comparable with visual entities. Thus, there converging evidence from lexicon, grammar, discourse, psycholinguistic studies together point same conclusion – language faculty amply equipped express our experience smell. It matter speaking right language.