Re: Concerning trolls - a translation excercise

On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 9:35 AM, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
>
> That's an interesting approach. It inspired me to try to define emotional states
> (and words for those states) in terms of certain "dimensions" in a
> multi-dimensional matrix.
>
> One dimension, for example, might be whether a referenced event or experience
> happened in the past, is happening now, or will happen in the future or might
> happen in the future. ("past" would include states like "regret",
> "nostalgia", ... ; "present" would include things like "envy", "pity",
> "compassion", ... "future" would include things like "hope", "fear",
> "anticipation", "impatience",...)
>
> Another dimension might be whether the event or experience was positive or negative
> (the difference between "excitement" and "dread").
>
> Another dimension might be whether the event or experience happens to the self or to
> another (the difference between "satisfaction" and "envy", or between
> "suffering" and "pity").
>
> Another dimension might be the difference between whether the event or experience
> actually takes place or not, (the difference between "nostalgia" over a past
> event vs. "regret" over having missed out on the experience or event.)
>
> Another dimension would indicate whether the emotional state was positive or
> negative, (the difference between "sympathetic joy" over another's good
> fortune or "envy" over that same good fortune).
Interesting. This seems to give verblike features to emotional states:
I see tense, mood (realis/irrealis), and person agreement.

Another possible dimension is whether the event is felt to be deserved.

> This might also result in words for emotional states for which there are no
> English equivalents, such as "positive reaction to missed opportunity for
> positive event for another." such as feeling good because George didn't get a
> promotion.
There is an English word for a positive reaction to a negative event
for another (which covers missed opportunities for positive events),
although it's a German borrowing: schadenfreude.

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