Psycholinguistic and Cultural Dimensions of Emotion Verbalization: Investigating the Rationale Behind Word Choice

Abstract

Emotiology is a growing area of interdisciplinary research and academic discourse which focuses on the linguistic manifestation of emotions. This study employs psycholinguistic methodologies to examine the rationale behind word selection in emotional communication, integrating linguacultural, psycholinguistic, structural, and comparative analyses. Guided by a mixed-methods research design, the study examined the relationship between language and emotion through psycholinguistic and cultural dimensions. Primary data was drawn from the National Corpus of the Kazakh Language, focusing specifically on the Speech and Media sub corpora. Qualitative analytical techniques like thematic coding, temporal analysis, and discourse analysis were employed for interpreting the data. Quantitative methods measured the frequency and intensity of emotive words, examining their contextual usage to evaluate their emotive potential. The findings identify three types of emotive semantics categorizes, uncovering asymmetries and patterns in emotional expression across the language. Additionally, the study discovered the emotive potential of various word classes, demonstrating their integration into broader lexical and semantic fields. It was found that emotive expressions are conceptualized either as intrinsic linguistic units or as contextually shaped constructs. This research contributes to understanding the psycholinguistic and cultural mechanisms underpinning emotional expression, emphasizing the intricate relationship between language, emotion, and the factors influencing word choice.