• Download chapter 2 'Language of the senses' here

Further material on language of the senses

• BBC Radio 4 documentary on smell (English; featuring Asifa Majid)

Some additional material that could also be good to include

• Explore the senses
• Bow Wow Meow - animal sounds in different languages

Scientific papers

• Malt, B., & Majid, A. (2013). How thought is mapped into words. WIREs: Cognitive Science, 4, 583-597. 
• Majid, A., & Burenhult, N. (2014). Odors are expressible in language, as long as you speak the right language. Cognition, 130(2), 266-270.

• Dolscheid, S., Shayan, S., Majid, A., & Casasanto, D. (2013). The Thickness of Musical Pitch Psychophysical Evidence for Linguistic Relativity. Psychological Science, 24(5), 613-621.

The students use the senses of touch, smell and taste to describe a date as accurately as possible.

Goals

• The students learn to explore with their senses: touch, smell, taste;
• The students learn to describe their observations;
• The students become familiar with the fact that different people describe perceptions differently

Duration
10 minutes

Work form 
The activity is conducted with the entire class, but each student carries out the assignment individually. 

Necessities
Per student:

• Blindfold
• Date
• Pen and paper

Activity
The teacher passes a blindfold to all students and has them put it on each other. The teacher informs the students that they have to perform the task in silence. The teacher then gives each student a date, asks one of the students to describe what he feels in three words and writes it on the board. Then the teacher has the students smell the date, has another student describe the smell in three words and writes this on the board. Then the teacher has the students taste the date and has one student describe his sensation in three words, which the teacher again writes on the board. The teacher then collects the remaining pieces of date, after which the students can remove the blindfold.

Wrapping up
The teacher reads the descriptions on the board aloud. Can the students conclude that they all had the same object based on the descriptions? Or do some students think they had something else? What words would the students have used themselves? Are certain word choices more accurate than others?

Tips

• The date can be replaced with any other food product. It is useful though if the majority of the students are not familiar with the smell and taste.
• The activity can be extended by performing the same activity with unfamiliar foods that the students bring from home.

The students test if they can determine whether they are talking about the same or different food based on their verbal descriptions.

Subtheme
Taste

Goals

• The students become aware that different foods are considered delicious in different cultures; 
• The students become aware of words that can be used to describe taste.

Duration
15 minutes

Work form
In groups of 3

Necessities
Per group of 3:

• Jelly beans of various flavours;
• A bowl;
• Two blindfolds; 
• Worksheet
• Pencils.  

Preparation
The teacher divides the jelly beans in bowls in advance. Each bowl for each group must have at least five kinds of jelly beans, two of each kind.

Activity
Within a group of three, one student takes on the role of experimenter while the other two are the subjects. The subjects wear a blindfold: they are not allowed to see the jelly bean they will receive. The experimenter gives each subject a jelly bean. The experimenter can decide whether he gives both subjects the same kind of jelly bean or each subject a different one. The subjects then eat the jelly bean and attempt to describe the flavour to each other. They describe the taste in colours, feelings, smells and associations. By describing the taste, the subjects must deduce whether or not they both consumed the same jelly bean. The experimenter records how the subjects described their perceptions and the flavour the subjects think they had. The experiment is repeated at least twice, whereby the students swap roles so that everyone has performed the role of experimenter at least once.

Wrapping up
The students discuss their results: were they able to determine whether or not they had the same jelly bean based on their descriptions? Which words were more accurate in describing the tastes and which were not?

Connection to the theme
In English we can describe taste with the words sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Many other languages share these taste words, such as Afrikaans, Hebrew, Greek and Nepali. Some languages combine taste words: sweet and salty or sour and bitter are then described by the same word. Other languages use only one word for salty, sour and bitter. In addition, there are also language-specific taste words such as umami, which comes from the Japanese language.

In different cultures, people eat different dishes. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are languages with completely different taste words than ours. In Gui, an African language spoken in Botswana, they use the word k’ore which describes the taste of eggs and caterpillars, among other things. In Japanese, they use the term umami to describe savoury and meaty tastes. Umami appears in soy sauce, tomatoes, aged cheese and mushrooms. Early last century, a Japanese man by the name Kikunae Ikeda discovered that umami is one of the basic tastes, which is tasted in the middle of your tongue. Since then the word has been adopted by multiple languages. Recently a new taste was discovered: greasy. This word describes the taste of fat, not the soft, creamy feel.

In short, despite major cultural differences, many cultures use the same taste words: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. There are, however, also language-specific taste words which sometimes describe entirely different tastes.

Tips 

• You can replace the jelly beans with a different edible good that exhibits variation such as chips or chocolate. Keep in mind to choose the least known flavours.
• Jelly beans are abundantly available, but it can be fun to perform the test with a lesser known or funny taste. Such sweets can be purchased via www.candyonline.nl

The students examine whether they can associate the object (the texture) with the correct word in Japanese based on touch.

Subtheme
Touch

Goals

• The students learn to make a connection between sounds and what they feel (textures);
  The students learn that language can express meaning not only through content, but also through sound.

Duration
15 minutes

Work form
In groups of three or four

Necessities

• Five boxes;
• Materials to be placed in the boxes: cotton, pine cone, stress ball, marble and sandpaper;
• Laptop with an audio file with Japanese spoken words that indicate a specific texture
• Worksheet ‘describing touch’ 

Preparation
The teacher prepares five feel boxes each containing a different object as shown below. The teacher also prepares a computer with the audio files of the spoken words. The boxes associated with words 1, 2 and 3 are held separately from the boxes associated with words 4 and 5.

Activity
Step 1: The students conduct this part of the activity individually. In turns, the students listen to word 1 on the laptop and subsequently head towards the first three feel boxes. The students feel the texture of the object within the box and consider which of the three boxes best fits the word they just heard. They repeat this for the two remaining words.

Step 2: The students now head to boxes 4 and 5. They take turns in touching the object in the box and attempt to come up with a (non-existing) word for the texture of the object. Then the students listen to the Japanese word that corresponds to the box to see whether the word they came up with resembles it.

Wrapping up
The students discuss their conclusions. Did they all choose the same box for a given Japanese word at step 1? Do the answers coincide with the table? Could the other groups easily associate the made-up words with the correct feel boxes?

Connection to the theme
The meaning of a word does not necessarily have anything to do with how the word sounds. For example, the sound of the word tree says nothing about what a tree is or what it looks like. But with some words, the meaning can be deduced from the sound; we call these words ‘ideophones’ and they are mainly used to describe sensory experiences. The associations that some words evoke by their sound is called ‘sound symbolism’.

Research has shown that certain sounds go together with certain objects. In multiple languages the sound of takete (or kiki) match pointed objects and the sound of balouma (or bouba) match round objects. Takete and balouma are nonsense words, but there are real words for sensory experiences from which meaning can be derived from its sound. In Dutch, these are often words for a particular sound. These words are ‘echoic’ (also called an ‘onomatopoeia’): they imitate the sound they describe. An example of an onomatopoeia would be ‘tick tock’ which describes the sound a clock makes.

In Japanese and Siwu, a language spoken in Ghana, ideophones are also used to describe textures. In Japanese a slimy object feels nurunuru, sticky feels betabeta and smooth feels tsurutsuru. In Siwu, the people use kpokporo (hard), tfpboroo (soft), wòsòròò (rough), wùrùfùù (fluffy), nyaka-nyaka (grooved) en fiεfiε (silky).

Tip
To get more students to do this activity simultaneously, the teacher can also prepare the configuration several times. 

The students describe different scents and discover that this is not so easy.

Subtheme
Smell

Goal
The students learn that smells can evoke different associations in different people, which is why they describe them with different words.

Duration
15 minutes

Work form
In pairs

Necessities
Per pair:

• Blindfold;
• Pen and paper;
• Six sealable containers numbered 1 to 6;
• Six house, garden and kitchen scents such as:
  • Oregano
  • Old cheese
  • Cloves
  • Anise
  • Vinegar

Preparation
The teacher prepares for each pair six containers to be smelled. The teacher records in which container he places which smell (for example aged cheese in container 3).

Activity
Each pair consists of a student that acts as the experimenter and another student as the subject. The subject is blindfolded. The teacher hands out the first three containers to each group. The experimenter grabs container 1 and has the subject smell it. The subject then tells the experimenter what words come to him in association to the smell, which the experimenter records. This is repeated for containers 2 and 3. Once completed, the subject remains blindfolded until the containers have been removed from sight. The roles are then swapped and the experiment is conducted with containers 4, 5 and 6. Once the subject is blindfolded, these containers are handed out again.

Wrapping up
The students compare each other’s descriptions. Are they similar? Why is that? Are there any unusual descriptions among them? Why did the students write these down? Do the other students understand what is meant by the unusual descriptions?

Afterwards, the teacher announces the contents of the containers and the teacher can check to see whether they smelled correctly

Connection to the theme
Since Plato and Aristotle, it was thought that it was impossible to describe smells. In many western languages, such as Dutch, smells are incorrectly described in over half the cases. When people give a description of the smell, they often provide a source description: they refer to the object from which the smell originates (smells like coffee, smells like banana). How particular source descriptions are becomes apparent when smells are compared to colours. We do not say that the balloon has the colour of grass (source description), but rather we say the balloon is green (abstract description).

The assumption that smells are impossible to describe is incorrect. A group of hunters and gatherers in Malaysia, the Jahai, is, for example, much better at describing smells than speakers of western languages. An example of a Jahai smell word is ha?έt: tiger, shrimp paste rotten meat, faeces and burnt hair. The researchers discovered that the Jahai use one word to describe different smells, similar to how we use the word ‘red’ for the colour of strawberries and fire trucks.

Smell is very important in the culture of the Jahai. They have certain smell-related rituals and beliefs. The Jahai, for example, believe that the smell pl?eŋ is dangerous, because it lures tigers. Cooked food is not eaten when it smells like pl?eŋ.

Tips

• The pairs can be grouped together to form groups of max three pairs. Each group would then receive a set of containers. Seeing as the groups still receives three containers, the pairs can pass the containers among each other.
• The activity can be expanded by having the pairs guess which description belongs to which container. 

The students classify colours in different colour categories and see that they do not necessarily agree with the classification.

Subtheme
Sight

Goal
The students discover that colour is experienced completely differently in other cultures and discover what the role of language is here.

Duration
15 minutes

Work form
In groups of four

Necessities
Per group:

• A hefty pile of different coloured cards; for example colour sample strips from the paint shop (keep in mind to cut off any words that may give away the name of the colour)
• A circle divided into six compartments with the words yellow, orange, red, pink, blue and green (see example)
• A circled divided in three compartments with the words light, dark and red (see example)

Preparation
The teacher prepares as many in three and six divided circles as there are groups

Activity
Every student in the group grabs a number of colour cards and places them quietly on the first circle (with six compartments). The students must choose: the colour cards are not allowed to be placed between two colour words. After all colour cards are placed in the circle, the students engage in a discussion: are there colour cards that possibly belong to a different compartment?

Next, all the students grab another hand of colour cards and place these on the second circle (with three compartments). Just like with the first circle, no colour cards are allowed to be placed between two colour words, which might prove to be difficult. Once all the colour cards have been placed on the second circle, the students engage yet again in a discussion about the location of the cards: are there cards that belong to a different compartment?

Connection to the theme
The colour spectrum consists of infinite shades between red and violet. The Dutch language has divided this continuous colour spectrum into segments: black, white, red, yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange and grey.

Different languages have different classifications: a colour may be named differently in one language relative to another. For example, the Yebamasa from Southeast Colombia use only one word for both green and blue (sumese). In Russian, they use more than one word: they don’t have just one word for blue (like we do), but a word for light blue (goluboy) and a word for dark blue (siniy).

Dutch and German share the same colour words, but some have different meanings. An example is the colour of the middle light of a traffic light. In Dutch, this colour is considered orange, whereas in German it is considered yellow!

Where different colour categories and thus differences between languages originated is difficult to explain. Several factors most likely contributed to this. A biological explanation might be that exposure to UV light influences the formation of the eye’s lens, which makes it more difficult to make a distinction between green and blue. This might explain why tropical languages often have only one word for green and blue. Another explanation could reside in culture. The word orange is an example of this. The word orange has only existed since the Middle Ages when oranges were imported into Europe from India and China. The word for the colour orange is derived from orange, the French word for orange, and refers to the colour of the fruit. 

Tip
To delve further into the subtheme, the teacher can introduce a language that possesses only a few colour words, as an addition to the activity. The students paint a smooth stone in the style of the Umpila, an Aboriginal Group that creates ‘dot paintings’ in the colours light, dark and red. For this, the following materials are required:

• Laptop with Aboriginal art images
• Smooth stones 
• Paint of Aboriginal colours (white, red/brown, ochre and black)
• Trays for the paint
• Plant sticks
• Newspapers

The students associate sounds with certain animations and see that experiences of low or high tones are culturally determined.

Subtheme
Hearing

Goals

• The students discover that different languages use different metaphors for sounds; 
• The students discover that the metaphor of their native language influences how they think about sounds

Duration
10 minutes

Work form
Individually

Necessities
Per person:

• Laptop
• Headphone
• Pen or pencil
• Extension cable(s)
• Answer sheet
• PowerPoint presentation Thick or Low Tones 

Preparation
The teacher copies the presentations to the laptops and sets them to presentation mode. The headphones are connected to the laptops. Adjacent to the laptops lay the answer sheets. 

Activity
The students start the presentation and receive a brief introduction on the task. Following the introduction, the students consecutively listen to two sounds four times and watch a short film about two objects. They must then decide which sound best corresponds to which film and fill in the answer sheet.

Wrapping up
The students discuss their answers: does everyone associate the same sound with the same picture? Why did some students choose something different?

Connection to the theme
In Dutch, the words ‘high’ and ‘low’ refer to distance, but they are also used for sounds. These are called metaphors. In western languages such as English, German and Dutch, we speak of high and low tones, but in other languages, different metaphors are used. For example, Kpelle-speakers, living in Liberia and Guinea, refer to light and heavy sounds. 

Farsi-speakers from Iran and Turkish speaking citizens speak about thin and thick sounds. Suya-speakers situated in Brazil use yet a different metaphor: they refer to sound as either young or old.

Babies have no command yet over language, but they are capable of associating tones with both high and low metaphors, and thin and thick metaphors. As they grow older, the metaphor of their native language becomes more of an influence. This can be tested by having people listen to a sound while seeing a bar which is high/low or thin/thick on a computer screen. Dutch adults speak of high and low sounds, and are influenced by the height of the bar. When requested to repeat the tone, they sing at a higher tone when presented with a high bar relative to a low bar. Adult speakers of Farsi, which speak of thin and thick tones, are influenced by the width of the bar. The metaphor of your native language, therefore, has an influence on how you perceive sound. Regardless, research shows that you can still understand the metaphors of different languages. Even though you do not refer to sounds as young or old, intuitively you understand that young refers to high and old refers to low.

The students try to identify the sounds of several animals and try to link a glossary of animal sounds from different languages to pictures of animals.

Subtheme
Hearing

Goal
The students learn that when one talks about sounds, certain words exhibit a relationship between the form and the meaning of the word. The students explore this relationship and research how this differs in different cultures.

Duration
10 minutes

Work form
This activity can be part of a circuit or be done with the entire class. The students perform the assignments individually.

Necessities
Per student:

• A pen or pencil
• The document ‘Animal dialect’
• The document ‘Animal dialect-answers’

(If necessary, the students can share the answer sheet, so that a copy does not have to be printed for each student.)

Activity
The students receive a glossary of animal sounds in various non-Dutch languages and pictures of animals depicted with speech bubbles. The students write the English word (or the word in their own language) for the animal sound in each speech bubble (for example “woof”). Afterwards, the students insert the animal sounds that match the different animals in the remaining speech bubbles.

Wrapping up
The students check their answers with the answer sheet. They then compare their answers in groups and share their experiences.

Connection to the theme
The relationship between the meaning and the form of the word is often arbitrary. For example the form of the word ‘chair’ says nothing about what a chair is or what it looks like. It might as well have been called ‘pans’. But there are also words for sensory experiences where the meaning can be derived from the form. This is referred to as ‘sound symbolism’. In western languages, this is especially true of words that denote sound. Think of the sound of something exploding (bam!) or a ticking clock (tick tock).

Animal sounds are also an example of this, such as a rooster’s ‘cook-a-doodle-doo’ or the ‘ia’ of a donkey. In many languages there are similarities between the words for certain animal sounds, but every language has its own interpretation of the sound (compare the English ‘cook-a-doodle-doo’ to the French ‘cocorico’). This has to do with the fact that we do not precisely mimic or imitate the sound, but rather give it a name. By giving the sound a name, the word must automatically comply with the rules of a particular language. For example, certain sounds that one particular language uses differ from those used in a different language. Furthermore, animal sounds are also dependent on the culture. In any given culture, predominantly the sounds of pets are named, animals that are important to society and that we often encounter. For example, we wouldn’t really know what the sound of a camel is in English, whereas the inhabitants of the Gobi Desert (where camels are native) would have one!

Tips

• The assignment can be expanded by adding more animal images and sounds;
• The students can also be given loose paper strips with words instead of a glossary, so that they can paste these in the speech bubbles;
• As a finale, a film featuring people from many different countries imitating all kinds of animal sounds can be presented to the class: https://vimeo.com/25215616 

View the various detailed research plans for the theme Language of the senses below. You can use these as examples for in the classroom or as inspiration.

• Do toddlers use the words sweet and sour when describing taste? 
• What is the difference between how toddlers and students from grade 5 and 6 name shapes such as circles, trapezoids and hexagons? 
• What is the difference between a seven year old and a seventy year old in their descriptions of something sweet, something sour and something salty? 
• What do the children of the middle class prefer the least: watching a film without hearing anything or not being able to see it? 
• What names do the children of our schools give colours that are sandwiched between two colour groups? 

If you are going to work on a theme, it is good to read the guideline for inquiry-based learning first. Using the seven steps of inquiry-based learning, we will show you how to design a project in the classroom. In addition, you will also find tools in the guideline that help you to carry out the activities in the classroom.

• Guideline for inquiry-based learning