Scents/smells

[MiaKalish@RedPony]

My materials for Apache contain very few words for scents and smells. yet the Sense of Smell is the only one that goes directly to the inner brain, bypassing the corpus collosum that mediates the input of the other senses. The brain reads the scents directly, through the two-dimension receptor activation map. . . and is capable of recognizing 10,000 or more individual scents. 

Ants communicate with each other via scents, ant eaters communicate with the ants via scents. . . humans tell whether fruit is ripe and meat is rotten by their smells. . . in the desert, when it rains, a unique plant infuses the air with its unique, water-activated, scent. . . and yet, in our languages, we have no words to discuss this more primitive of our perceptual senses? Does anyone have any conflicting evidence, that is, a language that is rich in words that describe scents? 

Thanks, 
Mia


"Heritage Languages: Don't leave home without one."

Mia Kalish, M.A. 
Director, Red Pony Heritage Language Team
PhD Student, Computer Science
Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352
www.redpony.us 
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