The Flow of Emotion through Beowulf

Comprehensive Psychology

2012

Self Cite

In order to be dynamically equivalent, different translations of the same text must have the same effects (including emotional effects) on an audience. In this research, six English translations of the Bible (four entire Bibles, one Tanakh, and one nearly complete translation) were scored with the Dictionary of Affect in Language, which quantifies the Pleasant, Active, and Imaging undertones of words, and were compared in terms of these undertones. In spite of small differences among them (translations into simpler modern English were significantly more Pleasant, Active, and Concrete), the translations were emotionally consistent and therefore dynamically equivalent to one another with respect to emotion and imagery. The median correlation among translations for Pleasantness, Activation, and Imagery was .9. The greatest variation in scores was associated with chapters. Emotional and imagery differences between books and chapters of the Bible are described and discussed.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Consistency as Evidence of Dynamic Equivalence among English Translations of the Bible

Comprehensive Psychology

2012

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“…It is in this vein of research that Whissell constructed the DICTIONARY OF AFFECT IN LANGUAGE, or DAL, following a tradition of lexical-emotional analysis (Whissell, 1989(Whissell, , 2009. In several works since its inception, Whissell has demonstrated the validity of the DAL in ascertaining the underlying emotional meaning in written text along three affective dimensions: Pleasantness, Activation, and Imagination (Whissell, 2000(Whissell, , 2001(Whissell, , 2006.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial expressions alter the fundamental sound properties of speech

Tessaro

2021

ELS-JISH

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Literature from across academic disciplines has demonstrated significant links between emotional valence and language. For example, Whissell’s Dictionary of Affect in Language defines three dimensions upon which the emotionality of words is describable, and Ekman’s Theories of Emotion include the perception and internalization of facial expressions. The present study seeks to expand upon these works by exploring whether holding facial expressions alters the fundamental speech properties of spoken language. Nineteen (19) participants were seated in a soundproof chamber and were asked to speak a series of pseudowords containing target phonemes. The participants spoke the pseudowords either holding no facial expression, smiling, or frowning, and the utterances recorded using a high-definition microphone and phonologically analysed using PRAAT analysis software. Analyses revealed a pervasive gender differences in frequency variables, where males showed lower fundamental but higher formant frequencies compared to females. Significant main effects were found within the fundamental and formant frequencies, but no effects were discerned for the intensity variable. While intricate, these results are indicative of an interaction between the activity of facial musculature when reflecting emotional valence and the sound properties of speech uttered simultaneously.

Word Emotionality and the Structure of the Old Testament Book of Ruth

2007

Psychol Rep

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Words in the World English Bible version of the book of Ruth were studied in terms of their emotional implications using the Dictionary of Affect in Language which matched 2,225 (89%) of the words. The use of extremely Passive/Unpleasant words and that of extremely Pleasant words gave evidence of a V and inverse-V structure, respectively. Ruth was gentle in tone, containing 188% of the normative proportion of Pleasant/Passive words and approximately 50% of the normative proportion of various active and unpleasant categories of words.