Tag: (E) indignant

(1992) Various languages – Emotion concepts


Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Defining emotion concepts. Cognitive Science, 16(4), 539-581. DOI: 10.1207/s15516709cog1604_4

This article demonstrates that emotion concepts – including the so-called basic ones, such as anger or sadness – can be defined in terms of universal semantic primitives such as GOOD, BAD, DO, HAPPEN, KNOW, and WANT, in terms of which all areas of meaning, in all languages, can be rigorously and revealingly portrayed.

The definitions proposed here take the form of certain prototypical scripts or scenarios, formulated in terms of thoughts, wants, and feelings. These scripts, however, can be seen as formulas providing rigorous specifications of necessary and sufficient conditions (not for emotions as such, but for emotion concepts), and they do not support the idea that boundaries between emotion concepts are “fuzzy”. On the contrary, the small set of universal semantic primitives employed here (which has emerged from two decades of empirical investigations by the author and colleagues) demonstrates that even apparent synonyms such as sad and unhappy embody different – and fully specifiable – conceptual structures.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(1990) English – Emotions


Osmond, Meredith (1990). Unravelling the meaning of English emotion terms: Evidence from syntax. MA thesis, Australian National University. PDF (open access)

This thesis examines the meaning of various English terms of emotion , and attempts to show that aspects of their meaning can be related to their syntactic behaviour.


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(1997) Emotion research


Harkins, Jean, & Wierzbicka, Anna (1997). Language: A key issue in emotion research. Innovation in Social Sciences Research, 10(4), 319-331. DOI: 10.1080/13511610.1997.9968537

Linguistic evidence shows significant differences in the use of supposedly equivalent words for emotions in different languages and cultural settings, even in the case of emotions thought to be as basic or widespread as ‘anger’. This paper argues that such differences in usage often reflect differences in semantic content, and shows how the NSM (Natural Semantic Metalanguage) approach can provide a way of making explicit both the similarities and the differences in meanings of related emotion words. Stating the semantic components of a word’s meaning in this way also facilitates understanding of these emotion words in their cultural and social context, in relation to cultural values, norms of behaviour, and cultural identity.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners