Ohashi (2010) said that there are 220 Japanese taste expressions. Seto (2003) classifies these abundant Japanese taste expressions by a “taste words classification list” and categorizes it to 37 different kinds of expressions.
Perhaps it is possible to classify taste expressions from languages other than Japanese by using Seto’s list. Additionally, it is to be expected that different taste expressions exist in other languages, but what type of expressions are there and how do people use them?Therefore, I investigated taste expressions in Korean as used by 60 native Korean speakers. This study is an analysis based upon their responses. In this study respondents write freely what kind of Korean expressions are possible to express the taste of about 240 foods. Below I illustrate the result of this investigation. In this investigation, I received different taste expressions of 460 kinds (total number of answers 11,447). I organized them according to category after having classified these 460 kinds of taste expressions by “the taste words classification list” of Seto.
Out of all the responses, the use of “synesthesia expressions” was outstanding. The vast majority of respondents used synesthesia expressions (60.5%), which were also the major of expressions answered (53.2%). Following this, 25% of respondents utilized “taste expressions” which became 16.4% of total responses. Next was “several evaluation” used by 8.8% of respondents, becoming 16.3% of total responses. Examining my data through the lens of William’s “one-directional hypothesis (1976)”, regarding the metaphor of synesthesia, there are many expressions of “the sense of touch → taste”. However, much of the data cannot support this hypothesis. In this analysis I analyzed examples that did not support the one-directional hypothesis.
The following two points became clear in this investigation: First, both the number and the kinds of expressions to express taste are different when comparing Korean and Japanese expressions. Second, plural metaphor expressions of synesthesia exist in Korean but not in Japanese. I created three new categories for Korean expressions that did not fit into the table of Japanese expressions.
In this study, I aim at the elucidation of a universal principle based on the physiologic universality of human beings in their taste expressions and in the individual elements of each language by clarifying a similarity and a difference of taste expressions between languages, hoping that these similarities and differences can be used as much as possible in future.