Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs: a cross-linguistic study

5.1.1.2. Hearing 
The stimulus for hearing consists of sound waves, which are captured by the ears. 
Our perception of hearing corresponds to the physiological process of these sound waves 
coming inside our ears. This is represented by the property yes
> in Section 
5.2.2. These sound waves are then transformed into neural events by the hair cells and 
analysed by neurones specialised for frequency and sound location. In hearing, as in 
vision, it is possible to locate the source and direction of stimulus, where sounds are 
coming from, even if the object that emits the sound is far away from us, and even if we 
cannot perceive with our eyes, we can still hear it. Properties yes
> and 
no
> in Section 5.2.2 represent these facts. 
The ear is divided into three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. 
The outer ear consists of the pinnae, the auditory channel and the eardrum. The pinnae 
act like reflecting surfaces that modify the complexity of sound entering the ear (Batteau 
type of metaphor comes from the experience of putting an opaque object in front of our eyes. This object 
could be external as well as internal (cataracts or any cause of blindness). 
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Etymologically, the original sense of this word (< F brilliant, pres. part. OFr briller ‘sparkle’) 
was to sparkle as a beryl. 

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B. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano 
Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs 
138
1967). After the sound is collected by each pinna, it is channelled down the auditory 
canal. At the end, sound pressure comes in contact with the eardrum, an oval membrane 
that vibrates when sound pressure waves strike it. Both the pinnae and the eardrum are 
like a directional microphone. The eardrum forms the outer wall of the middle ear. In 
this small chamber, the vibrations in the eardrum are transferred to the oval window by 
three small bones called the ossicles. The main function of the middle ear is to “serve as 
an impedance matching device and as a circuit overload protector” (Sekuler and Blake 
1994: 304). The next part is the inner ear, where mechanical vibrations are converted 
into electrical nerve impulses to be carried to the brain. The inner ear consists of two 
series of hollow cavities carved into the temporal bone of the skull: the semicircular 
canals, which are concerned with the maintenance of bodily posture and balance, and the 
cochlea, which contains specialised receptors – hair cells – that place us in contact with 
our environment. These pressure changes stimulate the receptor cells in the cochlea. The 
vibration of the oval window causes pressure changes in the fluid that fills the cochlea. 
These pressure changes cause movement in the hair cells, thus providing the stimulus for 
their activity. The cochlea transforms sound energy (pressure waves) into neural 
information, which is carried out of the inner ear by the auditory nerve. This auditory 
nerve branches into several different pathways that reconverge within the auditory 
cortex. The different pathways seem to process different aspects of auditory information 
for locating and identifying sound sources in the auditory environment (Evans 1974). 
Vision and smell too perceive information by ‘double’ paths and ‘double’ organs. As 
was discussed in the previous section, in vision, fibres branching from the optic nerve of 
each eye are projected onto the LGN. In smell, both cavities in the nose seem to work in 
alternative cycles. The only difference between hearing on the one hand and vision and 
smell on the other is that the PR is not aware of this fact in the case of vision and smell, 
only in hearing. 
Our perception of the ear both as a cavity where sounds can get in and also can 
get out and as a ‘double’ organ where information is received from two distinct sources 
is shown in language in expressions such as in one ear and out of the other. An ear is not 
only a place where sounds can get through, they are also containers for those sounds, as 
expressions such as earful attest. 

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B. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano 
Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs 
139