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Universal 2021:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 2021:

Original
(i) In all languages, people can describe cognitively based feelings via observable bodily “symptoms” (that is, via some bodily events regarded as characteristic of these feelings).
(ii) In all languages, cognitively based feelings can be described with reference to bodily sensations, general or localized.
(iii) In all languages, cognitively based feelings can be described via figurative “bodily images” (referring to imaginary events and processes taking place inside the body).
Standardized
(i) Cognitively based feelings can be described via observable bodily “symptoms” (that is, via some bodily events regarded as characteristic of these feelings).
(ii) In all languages, cognitively based feelings can be described with reference to bodily sensations, general or localized.
(iii) In all languages, cognitively based feelings can be described via figurative “bodily images” (referring to imaginary events and processes taking place inside the body).
Keywords
emotion, sensation, cognition, body, metaphor
Domain
semantics
Type
unconditional
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
“working hypothesis … on evidence gleaned from both cross-linguistic and cross-cultural studies”
Source
Wierzbicka 1999: 276, 294-302
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    Cf. the generalization in #2029.

    1. May 2020

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