"Happiness" and "pain" across languages and cultures / edited by Cliff Goddard, Zhengdao Ye.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Goddard, Cliff, editor.

Ye, Zhengdao, editor.

Series:

Benjamins current topics ; Volume 84.

Benjamins Current Topics, 1874-0081 ; Volume 84

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Semantics.

Emotions--Cross-cultural studies.

Emotions.

Language and emotions--Cross-cultural studies.

Language and emotions.

Intercultural communication.

Metalanguage.

Psycholinguistics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (153 pages) : illustrations, tables.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam, [Netherlands] ; Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania] : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the fast-growing fields of happiness studies and pain research, which have attracted scholars from diverse disciplines including psychology, philosophy, medicine, and economics, this volume provides a much-needed cross-linguistic perspective. It centres on the question of how much ways of talking and thinking about happiness and pain vary across cultures, and seeks to answer this question by empirically examining the core vocabulary pertaining to “happiness” and “pain” in many languages and in different religious and cultural traditions. The authors not only probe the precise meanings of the expressions in question, but also provide extensive cultural contextualization, showing how these meanings are truly cultural. Methodologically, while in full agreement with the view of many social scientists and economists that self-reports are the bedrock of happiness research, the volume presents a body of evidence highlighting the problem of translation and showing how local concepts of “happiness” and “pain” can be understood without an Anglo bias. The languages examined include (Mandarin) Chinese, Danish, English, French, German, Japanese, Koromu (a Papua New Guinean language), and Latin American Spanish. Originally published in International Journal of Language and Culture Vol. 1:2 (2014).

Contents:

Exploring "happiness" and "pain" across languages and cultures / Cliff Goddard and Zhengdao Ye

Pain and "suffering" in cross-linguistic perspective / Anna Wierzbicka

The story of "Danish Happiness": Global discourse and local semantics / Carsten Levisen

The meaning of "happiness" (xìngfú) and "emotional pain" (tòngku) in Chinese / Zhengdao Ye

Japanese interpretations of "pain" and the use of psychomimes / Yuko Asano-Cavanagh

Some remarks on "pain" in Latin American Spanish / Zuzanna Bulat Silva

The semantics and morphosyntax of Tare "hurt/pain" in Koromu (png): verbal and nominal constructions / Carol Priestley.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789027266958

9027266956

OCLC:

950724747