Le rôle des marqueurs d’intensification dans l’expression des émotions en anglais

Lucile Bordet (1)

1 CEL - Centre d'Études Linguistiques - Corpus, Discours et Sociétés

"Rappelons l'importance des marqueurs et indices vocaux et mimo-gestuels, ce qui conforte les linguistes dans l'idée du caractère « périphérique » (par rapport à leur objet propre) des phénomènes émotionnels ; et pour ce qui est du matériel linguistique à proprement parler, concluons à la fantastique diversité des moyens que peut investir le langage émotionnel, puisque tout mot, toute construction peuvent venir en contexte se charger d'une connotation affective […]. Ainsi at on le sentiment que les émotions sont à la fois dans le langage partout, et nulle part. » (C. Kerbrat-Orecchioni [2000 : 57)] 2) I use the term intensifier for any device that scales a quality, whether up or down or somewhere between the two. (D. Bolinger [1972 : 17]) 3) Intensive elements are frequently used as vehicles for emotion, emotion which the speaker feels at the moment and emotion which the speaker elicits from his listeners. […] Intensification is nurtured by a natural human tendency to exaggerate. Under the influence of strong feelings or emotions, one searches for words strong enough to communicate his feelings and often settles on words which may be stronger than a literal description of the situation would demand. His listeners recognize the fact that he is simply attempting to be emphatic, and they realize that the forceful words are to be taken in an intensive rather than literal sense. (E. Benzinger [1971 : 8-9]) 4) […] [the] use of taboo language is cathartic-the blurting out of damn, hell, shit, fuck or bugger, in moments of sudden pain or frustration, or regret. If you ask people why they do it, they'll say that it "releases tension" or helps the "let off steam". (S. Pinker [2008 : 364]) 5) 'emotions as elements of personal interior life' vs. 'emotional manifestations in interaction, independent of whether the participants feel the manifested emotions' (R. Fiehler [2002 : 81]) 6) Conan O'Brien: 'Does it look ridiculous? Does it really look ridiculous?' And I said, yeah, it looks ridic-and he went 'good! Do you really look stupid riding it?' and I said 'yeah, I'm gonna look really stupid', and he's like 'well then, that's good then'. 7) The face is one of the primary sites of emotional expressions; the voice is the other. I believe posture, the positioning of the head and body, is also recruited into the signal of some emotions. (P. Ekman [2004 : 46]) 8) Most often, the topic of verbal communication will be something other than emotion, but besides and at the same time people communicate emotions by the manner in which they communicate about the topic. (R. Fiehler [2002 : 86]) 9) Invité 1 : He was an amazingly kind and generous person. 10) Invité 2 : As, as, as funny as he was, he's truly one of the all time greats. Err, he was even better as a person. He, he was more fantastic as, he was just the loveliest, sweetest one of the kindest guys, errr… that I've ever worked with. Such a, just such a soft, warm, emotionally sweet guy, and, and it's a major, major loss for, for everybody. 11) Conan O'Brien : and it felt appropriate just to take a moment here and talk about this ABSsolutely incredible man. 12) Conan O'Brien : …such a fantastically funny guy and everybody knows that side of him. 13) Conan O'Brien : What I think a lot of people don't know and you're starting to hear all of these stories come out now, is how crazily generous (…) he was so generous, such a nice person.

Domaines: Linguistique

Lucile Bordet. Le rôle des marqueurs d’intensification dans l’expression des émotions en anglais. Lexis. Journal in English Lexicology, 2019, Lexicon, Sensations, Perceptions and Emotions, 13, ⟨10.4000/lexis.2753⟩. ⟨hal-01874191⟩