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

6.1.2. The property  
The property  takes a negative value in vision, hearing and smell; and a 
positive value in touch and taste. This is illustrated in the following examples: 
(6)
I saw victory 
(7) ? I heard victory 
(8)
I touched victory 
(9)
I smelt victory
(10) I 
tasted victory 
The meaning in those examples where we use touch and taste implies some kind 
of contact with victory, the OP. In (8), the meaning is ‘to reach’. This refers to a 
situation where, after fighting for some time, I obtain my victory, my goal. In this 
meaning, as we shall see in the next chapter, other properties are present as well, namely 
 and . In (10), the meaning conveyed by the verb is ‘to experience’; I 
experience what victory was in my own flesh. It is important to notice that what makes 
the readings in (8) and (10) different from each other is not the fact that they both are 
yes
>, but the property . In the sense of touch, this property is 129
Constraint: yes
> incompatible with 2
nd
order  (see Section 
5.2.3). 

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B. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano 
Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs 
165
no
>, and in taste yes
>. The different values that this property takes in each case 
explain why these meanings are different. 
As a result of being no
>, the readings for the rest of the sentences are not 
understood in the same way. Sentence (6) implies an intellectual process such as ‘to 
foresee’. Sentence (7) is not very felicitous. It can be understood as a physical 
perception of the word victory uttered by somebody. Alternatively, in sentences like I 
heard that there was a victory, the meaning is ‘to be told’. Sentence (9) takes the 
meaning ‘to guess, to sense’. 
6.1.3. SUMMARY 
In this section, it is shown how two of the properties defined in the previous 
chapter,  and , constrain and explain how and why 
some meanings are conveyed by certain perception verbs and not by others. In the 
following section, I shall develop this proposal and apply it to the analysis of the 
extended meanings lexicalised by tactile and olfactory verbs. The choice of olfactory 
and tactile verbs for the application and support of the theoretical hypotheses put 
forward in this chapter, as well as in Chapter 7, is arbitrary. That is, I have focused on 
these verbs and their extended meanings because they have not been investigated as 
much as other sense verbs, e.g. vision. These hypotheses, however, are applicable to all 
the semantic extensions that exist in all perception verbs.