In “Pragmatics and Emotion,” Tim Wharton and Louis De Saussure explore the intricate relationship between language use and emotional expression within the framework of pragmatics. The authors investigate how emotions influence communicative acts and how these acts are interpreted in various contexts, contributing to a deeper understanding of meaning-making in human interaction.

The book employs a multidisciplinary approach, integrating insights from linguistics, psychology, and philosophy. Wharton and De Saussure analyze a range of communicative scenarios, from everyday conversations to literary texts, demonstrating how emotional cues shape pragmatic meaning. They also discuss the implications of their findings for theories of speech acts and contextual meaning, offering a novel perspective on the interplay between emotion and language that challenges traditional views.

This work holds significant theoretical implications for the study of pragmatics, suggesting that emotional factors should be considered central to understanding language use. It also offers practical insights for fields such as translation studies and communication science, where emotional nuance plays a crucial role in effective interaction.

Source: dx.doi.org