Eksplikacja znaku percepcyjnego zapachu w świadomości użytkowników języka polskiego oraz w definicjach słownikowych (na materiale eksperymentu psycholingwistycznego)

Abstract

EXPLICATION OF THE PERCEPTUAL SIGN ”SMELL” IN THE MINDS OF POLISH LANGUAGE USERS AND IN DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC EXPERIMENT)

The problem of explicating perceptual features in vocabulary definitions is still underdeveloped in linguistics. Each interpretation of a meaning in a dictionary is one of the possible variants of its description.
The aim of my research is to identify and characterise the correlation between the content of the definitions of words with the perceptual feature “smell” and the content of the corresponding concepts in the minds of Polish language users. The following methods were used in the study: analysis of dictionary definitions, conceptual analysis, psycholinguistic experiment.
Using the questions from the experiment, I was able to identify 12 terms that respondents mention most often (over 100 times) and associate with smell, and also to refer to dictionary definitions to see if there is a perceptual sign in the structure of the definitions. A perceptual sign (perceptual feature) in linguistics refers to a meaningful unit whose meaning is derived from perception, i.e. perception by the senses. It is a sign that can be perceived through the senses, such as sight, hearing or touch, and which has a certain meaning for the perceiver. The perceptual sign of smell in Polish dictionaries is represented by the lexemes such as aromatic, fragrant, pleasant, pungent, unpleasant smell. Vocabulary definitions mostly fail to capture the perception of smell: the realities that respondents most often mentioned do not include the perception of smell, but are presented descriptively.