Semiotics and Sensory Sciences: Meaning Between Texts and Numbers

Abstract

Sensory science is a multidisciplinary field comprising measurement, interpretation and the understanding of human responses to product properties as perceived by the five senses. Although language is a fundamental pillar in this field, the direct contribution of semantic and linguistic has always been quite limited. After a quick review of the main steps characterizing the descriptive analysis and its implications in terms of semantics and semiotics, this chapter will focus on other methods developed for application with consumers without a preliminary training stage, such as the repertory grid method and the free sorting task. EmoSemio, a method originally developed with the contribution of semiotic analysis to investigate consumer emotions elicited by foods and other products, will then be presented. Lastly, the problem of the analysis of open-ended questions and the study of the relationships between information gathered via textual responses and information collected in a quantitative format will be discussed.