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