Emotion semantics show both cultural variation and universal structure.
Journal
Science (New York, N.Y.)
ISSN: 1095-9203
Titre abrégé: Science
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 0404511
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
20 12 2019
20 12 2019
Historique:
received:
27
01
2019
accepted:
20
11
2019
entrez:
21
12
2019
pubmed:
21
12
2019
medline:
1
4
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Many human languages have words for emotions such as "anger" and "fear," yet it is not clear whether these emotions have similar meanings across languages, or why their meanings might vary. We estimate emotion semantics across a sample of 2474 spoken languages using "colexification"-a phenomenon in which languages name semantically related concepts with the same word. Analyses show significant variation in networks of emotion concept colexification, which is predicted by the geographic proximity of language families. We also find evidence of universal structure in emotion colexification networks, with all families differentiating emotions primarily on the basis of hedonic valence and physiological activation. Our findings contribute to debates about universality and diversity in how humans understand and experience emotion.
Identifiants
pubmed: 31857485
pii: 366/6472/1517
doi: 10.1126/science.aaw8160
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1517-1522Commentaires et corrections
Type : CommentIn
Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.