1887
image of The pragmatics of emotion in socio-cultural contexts
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This article develops a pragmatic model for the analysis of emotion in socio-cultural contexts and applies it to the study of the messages written on David Bowie’s mural/memorial in London. The data consists of 584 messages written and drawn on the mural between February and December 2016, after the artist’s death. The model allows for the analysis of the semiotic resources used for the expression of emotive pragmatic acts and their intensification. Results show that all the messages contain emotive pragmatic acts, which include the expression of emotions such as love and missing, the expression of good wishes, blessing, thanking, praise, commitment to remembrance and tribute. Emotive pragmatic acts are expressed mostly verbally but also visually. Emotion is more frequently expressed covertly by figurative means and evoking positive connotations. Emotion is intensified by recurrent lexical (hyperbole) and non-lexical (orthographic, grammatical) means.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/prag.24034.hid
2025-10-31
2025-11-13
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alba-Juez, Laura
    2018 “Emotion and Appraisal Processes in Language: How Are They Related?” InThe Construction of Discourse as Verbal Interaction, ed. byMaria de los Ángeles Gómez González, and J. Lachlan Mackenzie, –. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.296.09alb
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.296.09alb [Google Scholar]
  2. 2021 “Affect and Emotion.” InThe Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ed. byMichael Haugh, Dániel Z. Kádár, and Marina Terkourafi, –. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108954105.019
    https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108954105.019 [Google Scholar]
  3. 2025 “Invoked Emotions in Times of Coronavirus: A Sociopragmatic Analysis of the Narratives of Healthcare Workers and Victims of Covid19 in Spain During the Lockdown.” InThe Sociopragmatics of Emotion, ed. byLaura Alba-Juez, and Michael Haugh. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Alba-Juez, Laura, and J. Lachlan Mackenzie
    2019 “Emotion Processes in Discourse.” InEmotion in Discourse, ed. byJ. Lachlan Mackenzie, and Laura Alba-Juez, –. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.302.01alb
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.302.01alb [Google Scholar]
  5. Bednarek, Monika
    2008Emotion Talk Across Corpora. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. 10.1057/9780230285712
    https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230285712 [Google Scholar]
  6. Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan
    1999The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Longman.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bouko, Catherine
    2020 “Emotions Through Texts and Images: A Multimodal Analysis of Reactions to the Brexit Vote on Flickr.” Pragmatics (): –. 10.1075/prag.18060.bou
    https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.18060.bou [Google Scholar]
  8. Carrington, Victoria, and Clare Dowdall
    2016 “Vernacular Creativity in Urban Textual Landscapes.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Language and Creativity, ed. byRodney Jones, –. Abingdon: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Carter, Ronald
    2004Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk. Abingdon: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Cinque, Toja, and Sean Redmond
    2019The Fandom of Bowie: Everybody Says Hi. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1007/978‑3‑030‑15880‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15880-4 [Google Scholar]
  11. Crespo Fernández, Eliecer
    2013 “Euphemistic Metaphors in English and Spanish Epitaphs: A Comparative Study.” ATLANTIS, Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies (): –. https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/16
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Doss, Erika
    2010Memorial Mania. Public Feeling in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 10.7208/chicago/9780226159393.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226159393.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  13. Du Bois, Jean W., and Elise Kärkkäinen
    2012 “Taking a Stance on Emotion: Affect, Sequence, and Intersubjectivity in Dialogic Interaction.” Text & Talk (): –. 10.1515/text‑2012‑0021
    https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2012-0021 [Google Scholar]
  14. Englebretson, Robert
    2007 “Stancetaking in Discourse: An Introduction.” InStancetaking in Discourse: Subjectivity, Evaluation, Interaction, ed. byRobert Englebretson, –. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.164.02eng
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.164.02eng [Google Scholar]
  15. Foolen, Ad
    2015 “Expressives.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Semantics, ed. byNick Riemer, –. London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Giaxoglou, Korina, and Katrin Döveling
    2018 “Mediatization of Emotion on Social Media: Forms and Norms in Digital Mourning Practices.” Social Media + Society (). 10.1177/2056305117744393
    https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117744393 [Google Scholar]
  17. Gibbs, Raymond W. Jr., John S. Leggitt, and Elizabeth A. Turner
    2002 “What’s Special About Figurative Language in Emotional Communication?” InThe Verbal Communication of Emotions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. bySusan Fussell, –. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Goodwin, Marjorie H., and Charles Goodwin
    2000 “Emotion Within Situated Activity.” InCommunication: An Arena of Development, ed. byNancy Budwig, Ina Uzgiris, and James V. Wertsch, –. Stamford: Ablex.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Graves-Brown, Paul
    2019 “‘My Death Waits There Among the Flowers’”: Popular Music Shrines in London as Memory and Remembrance”. InThe Routledge Handbook of Memory and Place, ed. bySarah De Nardi, Hilary Orange, Steven High, and Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, –. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780815354260‑41
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780815354260-41 [Google Scholar]
  20. Harju, Anu
    2015 “Socially Shared Mourning: Construction and Consumption of Collective Memory.” New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia (): –. 10.1080/13614568.2014.983562
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13614568.2014.983562 [Google Scholar]
  21. 2016 “Imagined Community and Affective Alignment in Steve Jobs Memorial Tributes on YouTube.” InSystemic Functional Linguistics in the Digital Age, ed. bySheena Gardner, and Siân Alsop, –. London: Equinox.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Helmers, Marguerite
    2001 “Media, Discourse, and the Public Sphere: Electronic Memorials to Diana, Princess of Wales.” College English (): –. 10.58680/ce20011216
    https://doi.org/10.58680/ce20011216 [Google Scholar]
  23. Hidalgo-Downing, Laura, and Paula Pérez-Sobrino
    2022 “‘Rest in Space, Starman!’ Creative Reframing of Death Metaphors on David Bowie’s Mural in London.” Discourse Studies (): –. 10.1177/14614456221108586
    https://doi.org/10.1177/14614456221108586 [Google Scholar]
  24. 2024 “Developing an Annotation Protocol for Evaluative Stance and Metaphor in Discourse.” Text and Talk: –. 10.1515/text‑2021‑0096
    https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2021-0096 [Google Scholar]
  25. Jones, Rodney
    2016 “Creativity and Discourse Analysis.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Language and Creativity, ed. byRodney Jones, –. Abingdon: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Kövecses, Zoltan
    2000Metaphor and Emotion. Language, Culture, and Body in Human Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. 2002 “Emotion Concepts: Social Constructionism and Cognitive Linguistics.” InThe Verbal Communication of Emotions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. bySusan Fussell, –. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. 2008 “Metaphor and Emotion.” InThe Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, ed. byRaymond W. Gibbs Jr., –. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511816802.023
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816802.023 [Google Scholar]
  29. Lakoff, George, and Mark Turner
    1989More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  30. Levinson, Steven
    1983Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511813313
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813313 [Google Scholar]
  31. Littlemore, Jeannette, and Caroline Tagg
    2018 “Metonymy and Text Messaging: A Framework for Understanding Creative Uses of Metonymy.” Applied Linguistics (): –. 10.1093/applin/amw018
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amw018 [Google Scholar]
  32. Mackenzie, J. Lachlan, and Laura Alba-Juez
    2019Emotion in Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.302
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.302 [Google Scholar]
  33. Marín-Arrese, Juana I.
    1996 “To Die, to Sleep. A Contrastive Study of Metaphors for Death and Dying in English and Spanish.” Language Sciences (): –. 10.1016/0388‑0001(96)00006‑X
    https://doi.org/10.1016/0388-0001(96)00006-X [Google Scholar]
  34. Martin, James R., and Peter R. White
    2005The Language of Evaluation. Appraisal in English. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. 10.1057/9780230511910
    https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511910 [Google Scholar]
  35. Matley, David
    2020 “‘I Can’t Believe #Ziggy #Stardust Died’: Stance, Fan Identities and Multimodality in Reactions to the Death of David Bowie on Instagram.” Pragmatics (): –. 10.1075/prag.18061.mat
    https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.18061.mat [Google Scholar]
  36. McCarthy, Michael, and Ronald Carter
    2004 “‘There’s Millions of Them’”: Hyperbole in Everyday Conversation.” Journal of Pragmatics (): –. 10.1016/S0378‑2166(03)00116‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(03)00116-4 [Google Scholar]
  37. Mey, Jacob
    2001Pragmatics. 2nd ed.Oxford: Wiley.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Ochs, Eleanor, and Bambi Schieffelin
    1989 “Language Has a Heart.” Text. Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse (): –. 10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.7
    https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.7 [Google Scholar]
  39. O’Hagan, Lauren A.
    2024 “Walkin’ Blues: Exploring the Semiotic Musicscape of Rory Gallagher’s Cork City.” Ethnomusicology Forum (): –. 10.1080/17411912.2024.2331432
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17411912.2024.2331432 [Google Scholar]
  40. Peña Cervel, Sandra, and Francisco Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez
    2022Figuring out Figuration. A Cognitive Linguistic Account. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/ftl.14
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.14 [Google Scholar]
  41. Pérez-Sobrino, Paula, Jeannette Littlemore, and Samantha Ford
    2021Unpacking Creativity. The Power of Figurative Communication in Advertising. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108562409
    https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562409 [Google Scholar]
  42. Roberts, Les, and Sara Cohen
    2013 “Unauthorising Popular Music Heritage: Outline of a Critical Framework.” International Journal of Heritage Studies (): –. 10.1080/13527258.2012.750619
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2012.750619 [Google Scholar]
  43. Santino, Jack
    2006 “Performative Commemoratives: Spontaneous Shrines and the Public Memorialization of Death.” InSpontaneous Shrines and the Public Memorialization of Death, ed. byJack Santino, –. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1007/978‑1‑137‑12021‑2_2
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-12021-2_2 [Google Scholar]
  44. Soriano, Cristina
    2015 “Emotion and Conceptual Metaphor.” InMethods of Exploring Emotions, ed. byHelena Flam, and Jochen Kleres, –. New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Steen, Gerard J., Aletta G. Dorst, J. Berenike Herrmann, Anna A. Kaal, and Tina Krennmayr
    2010 “Metaphor in Usage.” Cognitive Linguistics (): –. 10.1515/cogl.2010.024
    https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2010.024 [Google Scholar]
  46. Van den Bulck, Hilde, and Anders O. Larsson
    2019 “‘There’s a Starman Waiting in the Sky’: Mourning David #Bowie on Twitter”. Convergence (): –. 10.1177/1354856517709670
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856517709670 [Google Scholar]
  47. Verschueren, Jef
    1999Understanding Pragmatics. London: Arnold.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/prag.24034.hid
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/prag.24034.hid
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error