Audible Sniffs: Smelling-in-Interaction

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the study of nonlexical sound resources in social interaction by describing sniffs as sounds made by the body that have a physiological origin but also assume an interactional relevance: sniffing sounds made by participants when smelling. On the basis of a video-recorded tasting session in which participants engage in describing aromas, the article details the systematic organization of sniffing in a diversity of sequential environments—in which sniff-prefaced turns offer aroma descriptions in response to olfactory inquiries, confirm previous descriptions, and give alternative descriptions. Analyzing audible sounds made while visibly smelling in face-to-face interaction, the article’s aims are twofold: to contribute to the multimodal study of sounds in interaction and also to the study of sensoriality as an intersubjective practice through the systematic investigation of smelling-in-interaction. Data are in French with English translation and multimodal annotations.