Parent–child shared reading of scratch-and-sniff books: the communicative affordance of olfaction

ABSTRACT

This study extends the research on shared book reading (SBR) by specifically examining the role of smell in parent–child SBR sessions observed at home. Drawing on qualitative methods, we analysed the verbal engagement of ten Norwegian families and their three to five-year-olds reading an olfactory book (the scratch-and-sniff book Peter Follows His Nose). We followed socio-semiotic theorisations (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2002), to critically evaluate the role of olfaction as a communicative resource in SBR. We outline the principal ways in which smell fulfils three linguistic metafunctions during adult–child SBR with olfactory storybooks: the interpersonal function of signalling individual interests, the textual function of creating a dialogic space and the ideational function of revealing divergent interpretations. We propose that olfaction can be seen as a semiotic mode in SBR, which similarly to colour, has distinct grammar and systematic communication properties, with unique multimodal qualities.

KEYWORDS:

• Shared book reading
• socio-semiotic theory
• olfaction
• communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research project was supported with funding from the Norwegian Research Council (Norges Forskningsråd), OF 10849.