Emotion processes in discourse

This chapter contextualizes the book as a whole, surveying the study of emotion in discourse and presenting our own view and definition of the phenomenon. We show how functional, cognitive and social linguistic approaches to discourse analysis, in what is labeled the ‘emotional turn’, have ceased to ignore the affective functions of language. This redirection of research has been partly inspired by Appraisal Theory’s interest in identifying the evaluative component of many forms of discourse. But across the social sciences, scholars are recognizing the essential role of emotional phenomena. This has spawned multiple interdisciplinary studies, which bring together students of the mind, social interaction and, crucially for this volume, language, and deliver a better understanding of the psychological, interactional and social processes triggered by emotions. The chapter ends with a brief summary of the remaining thirteen chapters, showing how they together rise to the challenge of identifying the role of emotion in discourse.