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Love, Loss, and Hope Go Deeper than Language: Linguistic Semantics Has Only a Limited Role in the Interdisciplinary Study of Affect

Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, lkatz{at}mit.edu

Human emotional experience is organized at multiple levels, only some of which are easily penetrable by or dependent on language. Affects connected with mammalian parental care seem involved in Anna Wierzbicka's example of the experience of Jesus in Gethsemane. However, such affects are not characterizable as she requires, using only NSM's short list of linguistic semantic universals. Following her methodology, even using an enriched NSM really exhaustive of linguistic semantic universals, may involve serious losses of cognitive opportunity. Specifically, it forecloses any possibility of linking language with other cognitive resources to construct novel concepts, as may be needed to understand the deep biologically-based structure of emotion—which, after all, goes far deeper in us than language does.

Key Words: concept formation • language in emotion research • loss • NSM methodology • separation distress

References

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• Bowlby, J. (1980). Loss: Sadness and depression. Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. New York: Basic Books.
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• Van der Horst, F.C.P., Van der Veer, R., & Van Ijzendoorn, M.H. (2007). John Bowlby and ethology: An annotated interview with Robert Hinde [Special Issue: The Life and Work of John Bowlby]. Attachment and Human Development, 19, 4, 321-335.

Emotion Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, 19-20 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1754073908097178


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This Article Abstract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Katz, L. D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?