Linguistic Synesthesia

Linguistic synesthesias combine different senses as in English smooth melody (touch→sound). For nearly a century researchers have gathered data that has been interpreted as supporting the notion of a hierarchical ordering of the senses. According to this proposal expressions map the presumed-to-be 'lower' senses of touch taste and smell onto the presumed-to-be 'higher' senses of sound and sight. Here this proposal is tested in the first-ever meta-analysis of linguistic synesthesias combining thirty-eight datasets from fourteen different languages. The authors demonstrate that clear patterns emerge from the data but many such patterns are inconsistent with the notion of a linear hierarchical order or a simple lower/higher divide of the senses. This calls for a shift in what theories are considered to be viable for explaining asymmetries between the senses in linguistic synesthesia.