24 Vocabulary of emotions and its development in English, German and other languages
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Cliff Goddard
Abstract
This chapter is about the meanings of emotion words in everyday language. It employs a well-established approach to semantic description, the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach, which depicts meanings using paraphrases composed of simple, cross-translatable words. Numerous NSM studies have investigated emotion vocabulary in diverse languages. In broad agreement with many emotion theorists, the picture emerging from this research is that emotion words depict blends of feelings and thoughts, sometimes accompanied by potential bodily reactions. Using examples from English and German, the chapter summarises findings about the semantics of emotion words of various kinds, including adjectives (e.g., afraid, angry, ashamed), verbs (e.g., miss, worry), and abstract nouns (e.g., happiness, depression). Considerable weight is placed on linguistic evidence such as usage patterns, collocational data, and phraseology. It is shown that the NSM methodology makes it possible to differentiate between similar-but-different emotion concepts in a single language, e.g., English happy, pleased, satisfied, between comparable words in different languages, e.g., German Ekel versus English disgust, and, where historical records are available, to trace how emotion words may change their meanings over time.
Abstract
This chapter is about the meanings of emotion words in everyday language. It employs a well-established approach to semantic description, the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach, which depicts meanings using paraphrases composed of simple, cross-translatable words. Numerous NSM studies have investigated emotion vocabulary in diverse languages. In broad agreement with many emotion theorists, the picture emerging from this research is that emotion words depict blends of feelings and thoughts, sometimes accompanied by potential bodily reactions. Using examples from English and German, the chapter summarises findings about the semantics of emotion words of various kinds, including adjectives (e.g., afraid, angry, ashamed), verbs (e.g., miss, worry), and abstract nouns (e.g., happiness, depression). Considerable weight is placed on linguistic evidence such as usage patterns, collocational data, and phraseology. It is shown that the NSM methodology makes it possible to differentiate between similar-but-different emotion concepts in a single language, e.g., English happy, pleased, satisfied, between comparable words in different languages, e.g., German Ekel versus English disgust, and, where historical records are available, to trace how emotion words may change their meanings over time.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- Introduction xvii
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A Emotion Research – General Aspects
- 1 A survey of emotion theories and their relevance to language research 1
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I Affective sciences: Theories of emotion and their linguistic relevance
- 2 Language and emotion in the history of linguistics 31
- 3 Emotion and language in philosophy 54
- 4 Anthropological theories of emotion 73
- 5 Linguistic theories of emotion 84
- 6 Psychological theories of emotion and their relationship with language 103
- 7 Cognitive approaches to emotion and semantics 147
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II Methods of emotion research and their linguistic relevance
- 8 Qualitative methods 163
- 9 Quantitative and behavioral studies 183
- 10 Quantitative and physiological measures 201
- 11 Linguistic data resources for computational emotion sensing and modeling 226
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B Perspectives in Semiotics, Linguistics, and Communication Theory
- 12 A survey of language-based approaches and their relation to emotions 253
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III Language history and language change
- 13 Historical aspects of linguistic and emotional changes 281
- 14 Expressions of emotion and linguistic change 302
- 15 Historical semantic and linguistic history of thinking 324
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IV Semiotics of emotion
- 16 Semiotic conceptions of emotion 341
- 17 Multimodality, facial expression, and emotional language 364
- 18 Emotion and communication design 385
- 19 Emotion, colour, and language 403
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V Grammatical dimensions of emotion research
- 20 Morphology and emotion 423
- 21 Interjections and other emotional communicative acts 442
- 22 Morphosyntactic structure and emotion 472
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VI Semantics and the expression of emotion
- 23 Affective meaning in language 489
- 24 Vocabulary of emotions and its development in English, German and other languages 511
- 25 The use of emotion lexicon in emotion research 532
- 26 Emotions and figurative language 549
- 27 Studying emotion effects in language 570
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VII Language action and the processing of emotion
- 28 Pragmatics and emotions in social contexts 589
- 29 Rhetoric, stylistics, and emotion 606
- 30 Deception and emotion 636
- 31 Apologies, forgiveness and the social perception of emotions 650
- 32 The pragmatics of emotion, argument and conflict 664
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- Introduction xvii
-
A Emotion Research – General Aspects
- 1 A survey of emotion theories and their relevance to language research 1
-
I Affective sciences: Theories of emotion and their linguistic relevance
- 2 Language and emotion in the history of linguistics 31
- 3 Emotion and language in philosophy 54
- 4 Anthropological theories of emotion 73
- 5 Linguistic theories of emotion 84
- 6 Psychological theories of emotion and their relationship with language 103
- 7 Cognitive approaches to emotion and semantics 147
-
II Methods of emotion research and their linguistic relevance
- 8 Qualitative methods 163
- 9 Quantitative and behavioral studies 183
- 10 Quantitative and physiological measures 201
- 11 Linguistic data resources for computational emotion sensing and modeling 226
-
B Perspectives in Semiotics, Linguistics, and Communication Theory
- 12 A survey of language-based approaches and their relation to emotions 253
-
III Language history and language change
- 13 Historical aspects of linguistic and emotional changes 281
- 14 Expressions of emotion and linguistic change 302
- 15 Historical semantic and linguistic history of thinking 324
-
IV Semiotics of emotion
- 16 Semiotic conceptions of emotion 341
- 17 Multimodality, facial expression, and emotional language 364
- 18 Emotion and communication design 385
- 19 Emotion, colour, and language 403
-
V Grammatical dimensions of emotion research
- 20 Morphology and emotion 423
- 21 Interjections and other emotional communicative acts 442
- 22 Morphosyntactic structure and emotion 472
-
VI Semantics and the expression of emotion
- 23 Affective meaning in language 489
- 24 Vocabulary of emotions and its development in English, German and other languages 511
- 25 The use of emotion lexicon in emotion research 532
- 26 Emotions and figurative language 549
- 27 Studying emotion effects in language 570
-
VII Language action and the processing of emotion
- 28 Pragmatics and emotions in social contexts 589
- 29 Rhetoric, stylistics, and emotion 606
- 30 Deception and emotion 636
- 31 Apologies, forgiveness and the social perception of emotions 650
- 32 The pragmatics of emotion, argument and conflict 664
