The Semantics of Emotions

PS R.Hickey “Language and Culture”

Florian Peter

Grundstudium LN

The Semantics of Emotions

Introduction

Theories of the emotions

Comparison between some English emotions

“Happiness” in an European perspective

Culture- related emotions

Semantics of Emotions- Introduction a field of semantics emotions and colours as well highlight and

sharpen the theoretical and methodological conflicts in semantics

==> they illustrate how the study of linguistic semantics is influenced by other human science disciplines

e.g.. psychology, anthropology, semantics

Introduction

Why should we study semantics of emotions?

Emotions are a subject in which nearly everybody is interested in

==> 1. interested in our own feelings ==> 2. interested in the feelings of others

Introduction

in the last decade, there has been much controversial discussion about:

the nature of emotions the meaning of emotions

==> human science disciplines which deal with such questions are:

anthropology, psychology, semantics

W. Jamesian “Physicalism”

Founder of the “Physicalist Theory of Emotion” he asked himself the question if emotions are

essentially physical in nature

fear for example depend on 1. bodily symptoms like trembling, excitement 2. our awareness of them ==> when we fear sth. we can also see it on our

body

But, there are some emotions, as happiness which do not have any prototypical body signs

even so, there are some basic emotions like anger, fear, surprise, sadness, joy which all have typical body signs

other emotions are declared as amalgams:

delight= joy+ surprise

Proponents of this theory say that each feeling can be seen in the mimic of people (facial expressions)

these facial expressions match up all over the world

across language and culture barriers

But, psychologists and anthropologists found out, that there is much diversity and variation

Briggs Inuit, Lutz Ifauk, Rosaldo Hongot

two main rivals in the basic emotion theory

cognitive approach / social constructivism first one depends on mental processes ex. proud = there is a good reason for people

to think well of one ex. angry = on has been wronged and feeling

an urge to retaliate

second one takes emphasis on the cultural aspect

therefore emotions are shaped by social judgements, cultural values etc.

in connection to that Geerts(1975) says that “emotions are cultural artifacts”

to tackle emotions across language and culture barriers, one cannot use complex, specific terms

terms are not universal Ifaluk for example have no word for anger What do we have to do now? ==> we have to find words which have a

counterpart, like to think, to feel, good, bad....

Linguists are not really interested if the emotion are real,

but as semantics is the study of meaning,

it is about “the meaning of the words by which people discuss and describe emotions”

Iordanskajas’s work on emotions important points she highlighted:

firstly: emotion terms of different cultures really do not match up

secondly: the task of linguists is about analysing the meaning in such a clear way so that a cultural outsider is able to understand it

Definition of an emotion term should have two components

internal description of the emotional state (good feeling/ bad feeling; active/ passive)

reason for its occurrence she classified Russian emotions into six groups joy, anger, grief, fear, hope, surprise,

main features for this division is the experiencer’s assessment

if s.o. likes or dislikes the event

if s.o. wants do to anything in relation to the event

Wierzbicka on emotion concepts founder of the prototypical scenario inspired by the author Tolstroy who wrote

Anna Karenina,

a book which describes a wide range of possible scenarios and linked to that a wide range of emotions

It is important to note, that emotions differ due to subjective reasons for its occurrence

Moreover it is important that one can feel sth. without knowing the cause

sth good is happening now not everybody feels joy, but when s.o. feels

joy s.th. good happened

Comparison between some English emotions Differences between happy, joyful and pleased

depend on the use of it happy= self oriented or personal x feels happy/ s.th. good has happened to me/ i

wanted this/ i don’t want other things now so beside self oriented it is past perfective and

also implies further desires ex.:Are you thinking of applying for atransfer?

No I am quite happy where I am

joy= could apply to other people/ not self oriented/ has also a present perspective

x feels joy/ s.th. very good is happening now/ I want this

ex.: To his mother’s joy, he won the first price

Difference between sad and unhappy

sad: contains components like resignation and acceptance

ex.: “If my cat dies, I will be sad not unhappy!”

unhappy: suggests a more active frame of mind/ an unaccepting, active response

ex.: “I am unhappy about it” ==> could imply that s.o. intends to do s.th. about it (like changing the situation)

Happiness in an European perspective

happy is a common and everyday word in English

joy is more stylistically marked

but in other European languages words with a meaning close to joy are used more often

ex.: in German “sich freuen” and “Freude” are used on a daily basis

In contrast “glücklich” and “Glück” are not used on a daily basis

beside the difference in frequency, it is important to note that there is only a rough meaning correspondence between “glücklich and happy”

happy: a less intense emotion than “glücklich” German “Glück”: leaving no room for any

further wishes or desires happy has a more limited character ex.: I am happy with this answer

---> “glücklich” does not fit in here so one has to use less intense words; in this

case words like “zufrieden”

Culture-related emotions

emotion terms are culture related

every culture has a folk psychology

in connection to that emotion terms are directly related to the values and priorities of a culture

Japanese amae Takeo Doi: “[Amae] is a key concept for the

understanding not only of the psychological makeup of the individual Japanese but of the structure of Japanese society as a whole.”

it is hard for the Japanese to believe that there no word in English for amae ==>”Why, even a puppy does it” (=colleague of Doi)

Amae is a good feeling something like “to presume upon another’s

love” and “to take advantage of another’s kindness”

indicates that there is someone powerful and well intentioned (x can do things for me/ x wants to do good things)

and because of this you are completely protected (nothing bad can happen to me)

Moreover you do not have to do anything ==> it is the responsibility of X to do s.th.

Amae can exist in adult relationships like husband and wife, doctor and patient, but also in other relationships like mother and child

Thank you for paying attention