Project description
It is nowadays an acknowledged fact in the world of humanistic science that emotions are a key factor to the comprehension of human nature, and this is the reason why the topic has been and is being explored from different perspectives and within different fields of knowledge (Psychology, Sociology, Linguistics, Philosophy, etc.). In Linguistics, and especially within Cognitive Linguistics, the phenomenon of the conceptualization and expression of emotion is now considered a natural function of language, and has therefore taken on particular importance as a key feature to confront the dilemmas of the 21st century.
In our research at EMO-FUNDETT, we mainly take a linguistic (discursive-pragmatic) perspective, with the intention of clarifying and somehow systematizing the study of the conceptualization and expression of human emotion as a reflection of a given stance in the discourse. 'Stance' is another term to allude to the evaluative function of language, within which the persuasive function – which is the topic of the PERSUASION subproject – plays an important role. We carry out our analysis of emotive discourse by looking into the different levels of linguistic description (phonological, semantic, syntactic, etc.), by using corpora containing texts and contexts related to the world of corporate and institutional work. Furthermore, our study explores the relationship between the expression of the different kinds of emotion as a reflection of the so-called ‘emotional intelligence’ (Goleman, 1995, 1998, 2011), and consequently as a pragmatic/psycho-linguistic (cognitive) phenomenon which manifests the relationship brain-body-world (context) within a dynamical system.
Our main theoretical aim is to develop a methodology of linguistic-discursive analysis for the study of emotive discourse acts. Our general hypothesis emerges from the premise that the expression of emotion is related to the emotional intelligence of speakers, a fact that is directly related to their performance in the workplace. To put it simply, the discourse strategies used for the expression of emotion (e.g. the use of humor and irony, the appropriate use of (im)politeness strategies, etc.) will influence the more or less productive performance of social actors in their work environment. Hence our interest in applying the theoretical findings of our research to concrete social issues, thereby showing how a good command of the discourse of emotion may influence aspects such as business or institutional leadership.
In our research at EMO-FUNDETT, we mainly take a linguistic (discursive-pragmatic) perspective, with the intention of clarifying and somehow systematizing the study of the conceptualization and expression of human emotion as a reflection of a given stance in the discourse. 'Stance' is another term to allude to the evaluative function of language, within which the persuasive function – which is the topic of the PERSUASION subproject – plays an important role. We carry out our analysis of emotive discourse by looking into the different levels of linguistic description (phonological, semantic, syntactic, etc.), by using corpora containing texts and contexts related to the world of corporate and institutional work. Furthermore, our study explores the relationship between the expression of the different kinds of emotion as a reflection of the so-called ‘emotional intelligence’ (Goleman, 1995, 1998, 2011), and consequently as a pragmatic/psycho-linguistic (cognitive) phenomenon which manifests the relationship brain-body-world (context) within a dynamical system.
Our main theoretical aim is to develop a methodology of linguistic-discursive analysis for the study of emotive discourse acts. Our general hypothesis emerges from the premise that the expression of emotion is related to the emotional intelligence of speakers, a fact that is directly related to their performance in the workplace. To put it simply, the discourse strategies used for the expression of emotion (e.g. the use of humor and irony, the appropriate use of (im)politeness strategies, etc.) will influence the more or less productive performance of social actors in their work environment. Hence our interest in applying the theoretical findings of our research to concrete social issues, thereby showing how a good command of the discourse of emotion may influence aspects such as business or institutional leadership.