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Part of
The Language of Food in Japanese: Cognitive perspectives and beyond
Edited by Kiyoko Toratani
[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research 25] 2022
► pp. 191–230

Chapter 7
Clear is sweet

Defining aesthetic sake taste terms with a usage-based approach

| Tainan University of Technology

Taste terms such as soft for wine often have a special meaning that differs from their general definition. This chapter proposes a way to define terms of Japanese sake taste by employing (1) a usage-based approach, (2) “encyclopedic semantics” rather than a “dictionary view,” and (3) sense-making theory (Fukaya & Tanaka, 1996; Tanaka & Fukaya, 1998), drawing on data from a “sake tasting description corpus.” Sixteen high-frequency adjectivals (e.g., yawarakai ‘soft’) are selected and their sense(s) defined in a bottom-up and abductive fashion based on scores indicating the strength of co-occurrence between terms. The suggestion is that the target terms can have a sense related to taste, flavor, texture, time flow, etc. not normally provided by an ordinary dictionary.

Keywords: sense-making theory, encyclopedic semantics, taste, flavor, corpus, Japanese
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Sense-making theory and epistemological background: How is taste as an event constructed in the mouth?
    • 2.2Usage-based approach
    • 2.3The terms under investigation: Aesthetic terms
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Corpus and text coding (mining) tool
      • 3.1.1Corpus
      • 3.1.2Coding tool
    • 3.2How to define adjectives and adjectival nouns
      • 3.2.1Calculation of the co-occurrence score with KWIC
      • 3.2.2Defining the target terms
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Adjectives
      • 4.1.1Yawarakai ‘soft’
      • 4.1.2Karui ‘light’
      • 4.1.3Katai ‘firm’
      • 4.1.4Marui ‘round’
      • 4.1.5Futoi ‘bold’
      • 4.1.6Kōbashii ‘roasted aromatic’
      • 4.1.7Yasashii ‘tender’
      • 4.1.8Chikarazuyoi ‘powerful’
    • 4.2Adjectival nouns
      • 4.2.1Kirei ‘clean’
      • 4.2.2Odayaka ‘calm’
      • 4.2.3Sawayaka ‘fresh’
      • 4.2.4Tōmei ‘clear’
      • 4.2.5Fukuyoka ‘plump’
      • 4.2.6Hanayaka ‘gorgeous’
      • 4.2.7Maroyaka ‘mellow’
      • 4.2.8Fukuzatsu ‘complex’
    • 4.3Summary
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Clear is sweet
    • 5.2On Lehrer’s approach to lexical relationships
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 9 February 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.25.07fuk
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