Introduction

This paper is an introduction to this special issue on the description and expression of surprise. In line with the ANR-funded project it is part of, this volume aims to bridge the gap between emotion, cognition and linguistics. It stresses the unique status of surprise among emotions, uncovering the link between surprise and epistemicity. Drawing upon the traditional distinction between the description and expression of emotions made by scholars of different persuasions, it argues for a better definition of expressivity as a category in its own right, possibly independent of the expression of spontaneous emotion. This paper also provides a presentation of the eight contributions the volume is made up of.