CROSS-SENSORY LINGUISTICS: SYNESTHETIC INFLUENCES ON LANGUAGE PROCESSING

Abstract

This current study focuses on how synesthetic experiences affect linguistic representation with a special interest in explaining how sensory modalities permeation of language and conceptual meaning play a role in constructing cross-sensory linguistic expressions. The main aims of the research are to determine the impact of synesthesia on the sensory mapping, to determine the most repeated patterns in the cross-modal associations as well as the effect of conceptual meaning on the language production. It used a qualitative research design which was concentric with a purposive sample of twelve subjects with synesthetic tendencies. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, lexical tasks elicited by the participants, and corpus analyses. Thematic analysis was applied basing on the Cognitive Linguistics framework, Conceptual Metaphor Theory and ideasthesia framework. The results show that there is a systematic cross-modal connexion, particularly, in the domains of tactile, auditory, and visual elements, that are mediated by conceptual meaning, emotional background, and semantic consistency. The study proves that synesthetic experiences not only affect individual and overall linguistic patterns but also provide insights into the research of cognitive and psycholinguistics and language pedagogy, but have an implication on multisensory learning and language creativity.