Evidentiality of Olfactory Discourse in Russian Perfume Review Blogs

Fragrance blogging is a popular digital genre that has to deal with the challenges of verbal olfactory description. Perfume reviews initiate discussion of smells, which means that this discourse falls into the category of evidentiality. Fragrance bloggers interpret a smell by describing their contact with its source, their individual experience, and appeal to the collective knowledge about it. The linguistic pragmatic approach to evidentiality made it possible to cover the macrocategory of deixis and describe the semantics of olfactory discourse in terms of intertextual, situational, and axiological components. As part of sensory discourse, the category of evidentiality allowed the authors to structure the information on various aspects of olfactory semantics. The semantic structure of olfactory discourse was applied to 28 texts from four Russian-language perfume review blogs. The semantic analysis of the verbal semiotic means of evidentiality focused on the evidential components of meaning integrated into the discourse analysis methodology. The methodology examined the methods of identifying the olfactory source in relation to the smell description modes in perfume review blogs. The research revealed three meanings of evidentiality. Personal certification was related to the immediate experience of the blogger. The derivability of judgments referred to the qualification and classification bases for the particular olfactory response, i.e., the main note, the group affiliation, etc. Finally, the indirect evidence indicated the blogger’s awareness of the collective experience regarding the smell. The methodology for analyzing fragrance blogs proved the importance of evidentiality as a category that emphasizes the situational involvement in olfaction. 

1. Basalaeva E. G. Dynamic processes in the content of evaluative semantics (based on the vocabulary of olfactory perception). Terra Linguistica, 2025, 16(1): 19–29. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.18721/JHSS.16102

2. Wei R., Zaytseva O. V., Katyshev P. A. Conceptualisation of olfactory perception stimuli by native speakers of Russian: Based on reviews of perfume compositions with a note of sandalwood. Cherepovets State University Bulletin, 2025, (4): 7–18. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.23859/1994-0637-2025-4-127-1

3. Geyko E. V. Metaphorical potential pro-position components olfactory perception. Uralskii filologicheskii vestnik. Seriia: Psikholingvistika v obrazovanii, 2014, (2): 144–150. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/sccwtv

4. Zhukov I. V. War in the discourse of the modern press. Linguistic research 2001. St. Petersburg: ILR RAS, 2001, 53–65. (In Russ.)

5. Ilyina L. A. Semantic features of the sensory-evidential "auditive" grammeme in the Nenets shamanistic songs. Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal, 2021, (4): 263–275. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/18137083/77/20

6. Kobrina O. A. Category of evidentiality: Its status and forms of expression. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 2005, (1): 86–98. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/iiqxbx

7. Kozintseva N. A. The category of evidentiality: Problems of typological analysis. Voprosy Jazykoznanija, 1994, (3): 92–104. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/vlbtur

8. Kozintseva N. A. Typology of the category of evidentiality. Evidentiality in European and Asian languages, ed. Khrakovsky V. S. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2007, 13–36. (In Russ.)

9. Kozlovsky D. V. The category of "evidentiality" as a means of transmitting fake information in the English-language media discourse. Terra Linguistica, 2024, 15(1): 49–62. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.18721/JHSS.15104

10. Kolupaeva A. A. The national peculiarities of the concept smell in the Russian language. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki, 2008, (7): 86–89. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/kuzjjb

11. Li М.-С., Katyshev P. A. Perfume criticism as discursive practice and speech-thinking activity. Russian language: System and functioning: Proc. X Intern. Sci. Conf., Minsk, 22–23 Oct 2024. Minsk: BSU, 2025, 137–140. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/ipptxc

12. Mutalov R. O., Vagizieva N. A. Means of expressing evidentiality in the Kadar language. Litera, 2019, (5): 45–51. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25136/2409-8698.2019.5.31032

13. Nitsolova R. Interaction of evidentiality and admirativity with categories of verbal tense and person in Bulgarian. Voprosy Jazykoznanija, 2006, (4): 27–45. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/huidpv

14. Pavlova N. S. Concrete vocabulary with the semantic component of "smell": An analysis of the German DUDEN dictionary. Izvestiia UrGU. Seriia 2. Gumanitarnye nauki, 2004, (33): 33–45. (In Russ.)

15. Paducheva E. V. Evidential markers and their registers of interpretation. Acta linguistica petropolitana, 2014, 10(3): 529–541. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/tnpniv

16. Paducheva E. V. Egocentric units of language. Moscow: IaSK, 2019, 440. (In Russ.)

17. Plungjan V. A. General morphology. An introduction to the field. Moscow: Editorial URSS, 2003, 384. (In Russ.)

18. Pozdniakova V. A. The Actualization of the category of evidentiality in argumentative discourse in English and Russian. St. Petersburg: SPbSU, 2016, 69. (In Russ.)

19. Starostina Yu. A. The concepts of "smell" and "beauty" in Patric Suskind's novel "Perfume: The story of a murderer". Izvestiia Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 2009, (7): 164–169. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/lpaylx

20. Tripolskaya T. A. Perfume discourse: Express modelling the mental structure "Odour perception" in Russian language picture of the world. Problems of interpretative linguistics: Types of perception and their linguistic embodiment, ed. Matkhanova I. P. Novosibirsk: NSPU, 2013, 50–61. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/shszxx

21. Turin L., Sanchez T. Perfumes: The guide 2018. Moscow, 2020, 450. (In Russ.)

22. Kharchenko V. K. Sensory studies in linguistics: Fundamental and applied aspects. Moscow: LIBROCOM, 2012, 216. (In Russ.)

23. Khrakovsky V. S. Evidentiality, epistemic modality, and (ad)mirativity. Evidentiality in the languages of Europe and Asia, ed. Khrakovsky V. S. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2007, 600–632. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/sfxfpn

24. DeLancey S. The mirative and evidentiality. Journal of pragmatics, 2001, 33(3): 369–382. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(01)80001-1

25. Dendale P., Tasmowski L. Introduction: Evidentiality and related notions. Journal of pragmatics, 2001, 33(3): 339–348. https://elibrary.ru/amgyhp

26. Haan F. De Evidentiality and epistemic modality: Setting boundaries. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 1999, (18): 83–101.

27. Kleiber G. De la dénomination à la désignation: Le paradoxe ontologico-dénominatif des odeurs. Langue Française, 2012, (174): 45–58. https://doi.org/10.3917/lf.174.0045

28. Luce R. D., Krumhansl C. L. Measurement, scaling, and psychophysics. Stevens' handbook of experimental psychology: Perception and motivation; Learning and cognition, eds. Atkinson R. C., Herrnstein R. J., Lindzey G., Luce R. D. John Wiley & Sons, 1988, 3–74.

29. Majid A. Human olfaction at the intersection of language, culture, and biology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2021, 25(2): 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005

30. Moeran B. The colours of smell: Perfume advertising and the senses. The 110th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Montreal, 16–20 Nov 2011. Montreal, 2011, 45.

31. Nikitina L. Fragrance lexicon for analysis of consumer-generated perfume reviews in Russian and English. Methods X, 2024, 12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2024.102627

32. Nikitina L., Furuoka F. Words of scents: A linguistic analysis of online perfume reviews. Linguistics Vanguard, 2023, 9(1): 205–214. https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2022-0135

33. Nuyts J., Dendale P. Bibliographie sélective de l’évidentialité. Langue Française, 1994, (102): 121–125.

34. Pala K., Gangashetty S. V. Lexical meanings are shaped by olfactory perception: On computational complexity. Words for odours: Language skills and cultural insights, eds. Barkat-Defradas M., Motte-Florac E. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, 39–54.

35. Willet T. A Cross-linguistic survey of the grammaticization of evidentiality. Studies in Language, 1988, 12(1): 51–97. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.12.1.04wil

36. Words for odours: Language skills and cultural insights, eds. Barkat-Defradas M., Motte-Florac E. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, 265.