The Lexical Field of Taste
A Semantic Study of Japanese Taste Terms

Backhouse, in this book, undertakes a semantic study of taste terms in modern spoken Japanese.

A. E. Backhouse (Author)

9780521445351, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 September 1994

212 pages
23.6 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.461 kg

"...a useful addition to the small number of full-length studies of the vocabulary of taste." Joel Kuipers, Anthropological Linguistics

Dr Backhouse undertakes a semantic study of taste terms in modern spoken Japanese. Through an investigation of the range of vocabulary available for the description of taste qualities, and their interrelationship in terms of meaning, Dr Backhouse presents a sensitive elucidation of the structure of Japanese taste terms, which has significant implications for anthropological linguistics. He explores important semantic issues, such as the relationship between evaluative and descriptive meaning, the intralinguistic mechanisms at work in metaphor, and draws illuminating connections between the lexical field of colour and that of taste.

Preface
1. Taste and terms
2. Lexical meaning
3. Methodology
4. Evaluative taste terms in Japanese
5. Descriptive taste terms in Japanese (I)
6. Descriptive taste terms in Japanese (II)
7. Retrospect and prospects
Appendix
Notes
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Semantics, discourse analysis, etc [CFG]