Synaesthesia and other figures. What the senses tell us about figurative language

Abstract

The “figure of the senses” par excellence is synaesthesia, that is, a type of metaphor in which the connection of linguistic expressions referring to different sensory modalities generates a conceptual transfer between sensory domains (e.g., in fragrant music an auditory concept acquires olfactory qualities). However, there are also other figures that can have “sensory” instances, and such instances may easily be mistaken for synaesthesia. This chapter analyses examples of metonymy, hypallage, and simile, and discusses whether and how these figures interact with synaesthesia. It is also shown that, due to their different natures and properties, synaesthesia and the other figures “play” with the senses in different ways. In particular, preferences as to which senses are associated with which other senses can only be observed for synaesthesia. More generally, it is here argued that failing to distinguish between synaesthesia and other figures may result in a flawed discussion of synaesthesia.