Measuring Meaning: Culture-Specific Differences in the Linguistic Evocation of Emotionality and Rationality
Issue: Vol 2 No. 1 (2015)
Journal: Journal of Research Design and Statistics in Linguistics and Communication Science
Subject Areas: Linguistics
Abstract:
While much research has focused on the linguistic expression of emotion, especially in the advertising industry, little attention has been paid to the linguistic evocation of emotion. This study attempts to redress this issue by employing methods of empirical social research to measure the evocation of emotionality and rationality in recipients. The data was collected online through representative samples (n=3,030) across four countries (US, UK, Germany, Switzerland) using comparative text modules embedded in tourism brochures promoting sustainable hotel stays. On the one hand the results show that theories of the linguistic evocation of emotionality are not borne out in practice. On the other, our findings suggest that linguistic evocation of emotionality and rationality varies across cultures even if the language in which the evocation is triggered is shared (i.e.UK and US).
Author: Ursina Kellerhals, Richard Abplanalp, Sascha Demarmels, Douglas MacKevett, Monika Simon, Roger Wehrli
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