The expression of emotions in conditionals
A study of Modern Greek political speech
The aim of this paper is to examine the ways that emotions are communicated in conditionals employed in Greek political speeches. In particular, it is suggested that conditional constructions along with their conjunctions, such as the markers an (if) and ean (if) carry a particular emotional load in the Greek political context. Based on Athanasiadou and Dirven’ s (1996) typology of if-clauses, a sample of conditionals was analysed. The findings show a prevalence of the pragmatic conditional type; a conditional type with an intense conversational nature which carries specific illocutionary acts, such as warning, request or advice, accompanied most of the time by negative emotions, such as anger, dislike, contempt, irritation, alarm, intimidation and pride. In other words, the choice of the pragmatic type in combination with certain conjunctions is associated with specific negative emotions which consequently generate reactions such as sarcasm, irony, scaremongering, cajolery and fake politeness. Overall, the paper discusses devices through which conditional constructions reflect emotions.
References (36)
References
Athanasiadou, Angeliki, and René Dirven. 1996. “Typology of if-clauses.” In Cognitive Linguistics in the Redwoods. The Expansion of a New Paradigm in Linguistics, ed. by Eugene H. Casad, 609–654. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Athanasiadou, Angeliki and René Dirven. 2000. “Pragmatic conditionals.” In Constructions in Cognitive Linguistics: Selected Papers from the Fifth International Cognitive Linguistics Conference Amsterdam 1997, ed. by Ad Foolen and Frederike van der Leek, 1–26. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Babiniotis, Georgios. 2009. Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek, 1st
Edition. Lexicology Centre Print.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barry, Brian M. 1995. Justice as Impartiality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bruce, John M., and Clyde Wilcox. 1998. “The changing politics of gun control.” In The Sentimental Citizen: Emotion in Democratic Politics, ed. by George E. Marcus. USA: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chilton, Paul. 2004. Analyzing Political Discourse: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cislaru, Georgia. 2012. “Emotions as a rhetorical tool in political discourse.” In Rhetoric and Politics: Central/Eastern European Perspectives, ed. by Maria Zaleska, 107–126. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Comrie, Bernard. 1986. Conditionals: a typology. In On Conditionals ed. by Elizatbeth C, Traugott, Alice Meulen, Charles A. Ferguson and Snitzer Reilly Judy, 77–99. Cambridge-London: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dancygier, Barbara, and Eve Sweetser. 2005. Mental Spaces in Grammar: Conditional Constructions (ambridge Studies in Linguistics 108). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Damasio, Antonio. 1995 [1994], L’Erreur de Descartes, Paris: Odile Jacob.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dirven, René, and Angeliki Athanasiadou. 2005. “IF and it’s near synonyms in different contextual uses.” In Life in Language. Studies in Honor of Wolfgang Kuehlwein, ed. by Andreas Schuth, Kristine Horner, and Jean-Jacques Weber, 97–120. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Halliday, Michael, and K. Alexander. 1978. Language as social semiotic. London: Edward Arnold.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
James, William. 1884. “What is an emotion?” Mind 9: 188–205. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kövecses, Zoltan. 2000. Metaphor and emotion: Language, Culture, and Body in Human Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kövecses, Zoltán. 2002. Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kövecses, Zoltán, Gary B. Palmer and René Dirven. 2002. “Language and emotion: The interplay of conceptualization with physiology and culture”. In Metaphor and Metonymy in Comparison and Contrast ed. by René, Dirven and Ralf Pörings, 133–159. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, George. 2009. The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your Brain and It’s Politics. Penguin (Non-Classics), Reprint edition.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lampropoulou Martha. 2009. Conditionality in Greek Political Speech: An empirical analysis. MA Dissertation. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
LDC .1975. Leuven Drama Corpus.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Marcus, George, E. 2002. The Sentimental Citizen: Emotion in Democratic Politics. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Oatley, Keith, and Philip N. Johnson-Laird. 1987. “Towards a cognitive theory of emotions.” Cognition & Emotion 1: 29–50. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Online Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek. 2006–2008. Center of Greek Language, Portal. 12
th
of October 2012. <www.greek-language.gr>![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ortony, Andrew, Gerald Clore, and Collins Allan. 1990. The Cognitive Structure of Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Parrott, Gerrod, W. 2001. Emotions in Social Psychology. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pinker, Steven, Martin A. Nowak and James L. Lee. 2008. “The logic of indirect speech.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(3): 833–838. <[URL]> ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rosch, Eleanor. 1975. “Cognitive reference points.” Cognitive Psychology 7 (4): 532–47. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rosch, Eleanor. 1978. Cognition and Categorization. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Syntax of Modern Greek. 2008.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Συντακτικό της Νας Ελληνικλς, Α΄, ΒΒ και ΓΓ Γυμνασίου. 2008. Συγγραφικ ομδα ΚΕΜΕ. Οργανισμς Εκδ?σεων Διδακτικ?ν Βιβλ?ων Αθ?να, 143–145.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Talmy, Leonard. 1976. “Semantic causative types.” In Syntax and Semantics 6:
The Grammar of Causative Constructions
, ed. by Shibatani Masayoshi, 43–116. New York: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tomkins, Silvan, S. and Robert Mc Carter. 1964. “What and where are the primary affects: Some evidence for a theory.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 18: 119–158. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tomkins, Silvan, S. 1984. “Affect theory.” In Approaches to Emotion, ed. by Klaus R. Scherer and Paul Ekman, 163–195. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1986. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, (2nd edition.). Cambridge: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weiner, Bernard, and Sandra Graham. 1984. “An attributional approach to emotional development.” In Emotions, Cognition, and Behavior, ed. by Carrole E. Izard, Jerom Kagan, and Robert B. Zajonc, 167–191. New York: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Aubrey, Rachel & Michael Aubrey
2022.
Bibliography of Conditionals.
Journal of Translation 18:2
► pp. 135 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Rakhmankulova, Svetlana Evgenyevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna Sineokova, Nadezhda Alexandrovna Kokhan, Robert Alexeyevich Kuzmin, G. Sorokoumova & T. Grob
2021.
Representation of emotion in English syntax and teaching Russian EFL students.
SHS Web of Conferences 122
► pp. 01003 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.