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

5.1.2. SUMMARY 
In this section, the physiology of the five senses and the way we perceive them 
have been described. It has been shown how these two elements constrain and influence 
the way in which we create and use sense-related expressions. For example, it has been 
seen how the intensity of light – vision stimulus – has analogies in language expressions 
such as dim view and brilliant idea. How the poor identification process in smell is 
linked to the inherently weakness in the verbal description of odours. 
These two constraints, however, do not always coincide; in other words, our 
perception of the senses is not always in accordance with the physiological description 
of the senses themselves. For instance, although vision, hearing and smell have ‘double’ 
organs that perceive individually, it is only in the case of hearing that PRs are aware of 
it, and as a consequence we have expressions such as in one ear and out of the other. 
The stimuli of the five senses must have some contact with the perception organs in 
order to trigger the perceptual process. Nevertheless, it is only in the cases of touch and 
taste that PRs are fully aware of such a requirement. 
This section constitutes the physiological and perceptual background for the 
description of properties in Section 5.2 below. 
5.2. properties in sense perception 
In the previous section, the physiology of the human perceptual systems and the 
perceptual processes themselves have been described. Perception entails a sequence of 
interrelated events. The first step is the physical energy – stimulus – that triggers the 
perceptual process. The second step is the sensory transduction, where this physical 
energy is transformed into neural events by different receptors. These neural impulses 
are then sent to different parts of the brain, concluding the perceptual process. 
This is the general pattern followed by the five types of sensory perception 
analysed: vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. However, the requirements for each 
sensory modality are not the same; the stimuli, the receptors, the brain areas are 
different. That is to say, the way in which the perceiver, the object perceived and the act 
of perception itself interact with each other are not the same.

---

B. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano 
Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs 
144
Based on the descriptions presented in Section 5.1, I propose a typology of the 
main properties that characterise the different sense modalities, and hence, the bodily 
basis of perception verbs. These properties are organised according to various 
parameters.
One parameter is the relation between the perceiver (PR), the object perceived 
(OP) and the act of perception (P).
Another parameter, which subdivides each of the groups above, is the 
distribution of these properties in each sense. Some of these properties can be applied to 
all the five senses, whereas others are only relevant to a specific sense. The former are 
called ‘A level properties’, the latter ‘B level properties’.
Finally, the last parameter is whether these properties are pure (1
st
order) or 
composed (2
nd
order) properties; that is to say whether or not they are the result of the 
interrelation of several properties.
In the next section, the properties resulting from these parameters are presented, 
together with a description of how they are applied to each sense.