Emotion in Discourse

Interest in human emotion no longer equates to unscientific speculation. 21st-century humanities scholars are paying serious attention to our capacity to express emotions and giving rigorous explanations of affect in language. We are unquestionably witnessing an ‘emotional turn’ not only in linguistics, but also in other fields of scientific research.
Emotion in Discourse follows from and reflects on this scholarly awakening to the world of emotion, and in particular, to its intricate relationship with human language. The book presents both the state of the art and the latest research in an effort to unravel the various workings of the expression of emotion in discourse. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, for emotion is a multifarious phenomenon whose functions in language are enlightened by such other disciplines as psychology, neurology, or communication studies. The volume shows not only how emotion manifests at different linguistic levels, but also how it relates to aspects like linguistic appraisal, emotional intelligence or humor, as well as covering its occurrence in various genres, including scientific discourse. As such, the book contributes to an emerging interdisciplinary field which could be labeled “emotionology”, transcending previous linguistic work and providing an updated characterization of how emotion functions in human discourse.

Lucia Busso, Aston University, on Linguist List 31.889 (9 November 2019):
The present volume constitutes a valuable contribution for a number of interrelated disciplines, such as linguistics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and communication studies. In fact, its merit is to provide the reader with a wide overview of various scientific perspectives on the study of emotions, contributing to the so-called ‘emotional turn’ not only in linguistics, but also in other fields of scientific research. [...] Overall, the volume constitutes an extremely interesting collection of innovative studies, which represent a significant contribution to the interdisciplinary effort to bring the attention of the scientific community on the relations among emotion, language and society.