Language and Emotion

Abstract For centuries, philosophers have been concerned with the two basic human systems involved in communication: language and emotion. The first reported experiment on language was conducted in the 7th century B.C. by the Egyptian King Psammetichus. He reputedly left two infants in an isolated mountain hideaway as a means to discover the “original” language of humans. Somewhat later, in the 4th century B.C., in the dialogue Cratylus, Plato wrote on the nature of reference and the origins of words. With respect to emotion, in modern times, Darwin has made the most impact and is cited in virtually every study of emotion. However, we have records from the Greeks discussing emotion and temperament and the role of the bodily humors in mediating emotions. Thus, from the oldest available records, language and emotion have been central themes in human behavior. What is most striking, however, is that these two literatures, which are both vast and voluminous, rarely refer to one another. These nonintersecting paths continue to this day, with linguists rarely referring to emotion and the influences it may have on language, and psychologists working in the area of emotions rarely considering language and how these systems intersect. Nonetheless, these two systems are concurrently involved in daily interactions of members of all cultures: In natural discourse, any linguistic utterance is produced and interpreted in an emotional context. Moreover, specific utterances convey emotion and are interpreted as emotionally significant. A spoken utterance can incorporate emotional information paralinguistically, using facial expression, vocal prosody, and gesture, as in, “JOHN!” (walking toward the person, arms outstretched, smiling). Or similar emotional information can be lexically encoded within the actual words of the sentence, as in “John, I am so very happy to see you again.” Finally, speakers and writers have a vast repertoire of linguistic devices to convey subtle attitudinal information to “color” their utterances, and these can reflect emotional stance. For example, minimal modifications of the verb of the simple declarative sentence “I eat squid” can indicate a broad spectrum of personal preferences: I adore eating squid; I’ll eat squid; I might eat squid; I could eat squid; I don’t eat squid; I never eat squid; to I detest eating squid. In this chapter, we examine some of the different relationships of language and emotion by focusing on their expression, and the integration of their co-expression from primarily a developmental perspective. In cultures all over the world, infants begin to produce their first words around their first birthday, yet they are already skilled affective communicators. One question that arises is the role affective expression plays in language acquisition. One possibility, reflecting a modular viewpoint, is that the systems develop orthogonally to one another; a second option, from a broader cognitive perspective is that the two communicative systems are linked.