Expressive Language/
Emotional Function of Language

Erika Lombart, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium
erika.lombart@uclouvain.be

Roman Jakobson's 1960 theory of language functions identifies six types of communication. They are: expressive, conative, phatic, referential, metalinguistic, and poetic. The expressive function, also called the emotive function, is about expressing the speaker's emotions, feelings, or attitudes. This can be seen in statements like ‘I am tired’, where the speaker is expressing a personal state. John Searle also looked at the expressive function in the context of speech acts. He says that expressions like apologies, congratulations, and praise are categorised as expressive acts. These acts may not necessarily reflect sincere emotions but convey the speaker's feelings or reactions towards an event, behaviour, or situation.

Emotions play a crucial role in communication, as they allow individuals to adjust their interactions with others. Primary emotions like joy, anger, sadness, disgust, surprise, and fear are experienced the same way across different cultures. Secondary emotions are formed from primary emotions. But different cultures and languages suggest different interpretations of emotional experiences, which means that emotional expressions may differ based on context and societal norms.

When we communicate digitally, we often must find new ways to express emotions, because we do not have the non-verbal cues that we are used to in face-to-face conversation. This might be emoticons, punctuation, or special words like acronyms or interjections which shows how important it is to be able to express emotions in digital communication, even when there are limits to the medium.

Keywords: emotions, non-verbal communication, communication adjustment

Related Entries: Evaluative Language, Judgement (1), Judgement (2), Opinion, Subjectivity

References:
Ekman, P. (1992). Are there basic emotions? Psychological Review, 99(3), 550-553. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.99.3.550
Gauducheau, N. (2012). La communication des émotions dans les échanges médiatisés par ordinateur: Bilan et perspectives. Bulletin de psychologie, 496(4), 389-404.
Jakobson R. (1960). Essais de linguistique générale. Editions de Minuit.
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts. Cambridge University Press.
Wierzbicka, A. (2010). The “history of emotions” and the future of emotion research. Emotion Review, 2(3), 269-273. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910361983