After spending some time meditating and letting my mind grasp with the literature, I wish I can say that I know much more about Language and Emotions at this point but the truth is I don’t. And I humbly say so as I continue to learn through my research what this world has got to teach me about it.
I struggle to put my emotions into words on some occasions. It isn’t the fact that I am not confident of my English abilities, or even Chinese abilities to accurately depict or put into words what I feel. If communication of emotion boils down mainly to vocabulary, I am happy to learn. But it really isn’t. It is perhaps the fact that a lot more is going on as I communicate and I am not sure at any given moment that I have used all the tools that I have to express myself. I am not limited to language but what is my full range of tools and what in particular have I not explored? Intriguingly, research has shown that even language alone has limits given by the language of choice. This could potentially bring in a debate on the argument of linguistic relativity but I will not go into that. An added layer to all these is the right communicative tools for the right context. The question that leaves to be answered is, “What in specific are the boundaries of Emotion communication because of the cultural rules or socialisation rules involved? What is the Chinese story to this?” Perhaps it is this reason that I am very excited to embark on my Focus Group soon as I look to several of the representatives of a very diverse Chinese population and let them tell me when it comes to Emotion, what the borders are (if any) and if their perception and expression is confined in any way at all.
I love that we can either start off thinking of Language and Emotions, or Emotions and Language. To which if we start with the latter, Karla McLauren has something interesting to say about what emotions communicate and do.
“Without our emotions, we can’t make decisions; we can’t decipher our dreams and visions; we can’t set proper boundaries or behave skillfully in relationships; we can’t identify our hopes or support the hopes of others; and we can’t connect to, or even find, our dearest loves.” ― Karla McLaren, The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You
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