ACTA LINGUISTICA LITHUANICA

XLVIII (2003), 105 – 118

Some Features of the Expression of the Concept of SADNESS in Lithuanian

SILVIJA PAPAURĖLYTĖ

Šiauliai University

Lexical units describing emotions refer to situations. They single out a number of important situational elements: who experiences the emotional state, what is its cause, how can one define its essential features, how is it expressed. Such scenarios reflect the naive picture of the world. The aim of the present paper is to reveal how emotional states in the sphere of the general notion of sadness are conceptualized in Lithuanian. Attention is paid only to one part of the situational scenario associated with states of sadness, viz. the correlation between an emotional state and its causes.

The relationship between emotions and language is distinctive in that language also expresses what cannot be seen with the naked eye. Language categorizes the inner world, distinguishes emotions from one another, defines their essence, and indicates their similarities and differences. The names of emotions partly reveal the contents of consciousness.

The sphere of feelings is not only abstract but also the area of reality most dependent on each individual’s experience; nevertheless, language generalizes these different experiences and names the corresponding states on the basis of shared features. When speaking about their emotions and choosing the relevant words, a person simultaneously signals how they would like to be understood: cf. I was a little upset after breaking up with my boyfriend vs. I was deeply grieved after breaking up with my boyfriend (Bamberg 1997 a: 212). Essentially, all other sciences that study feelings rely on the material provided by language, since it is a kind of bridge between the invisible world of emotions and reality.

One of the four basic emotions is SADNESS. In the Dictionary of Psychology, sadness (Russian грусть, English sadness) is defined as a feeling of spiritual pain, distress, or sorrow that arises from loss, not having something, or deprivation. Sadness manifests itself in relatively mild experiences of suffering, diminished motivation for activity, passivity, and listlessness, and encompasses pity and compassion for oneself, as well as taking pleasure in one’s own pain. This emotion helps one sense the passage of time and evokes regret over time that is passing. Sadness is experienced when a person gives up “false illusions and reconciles themselves to fate” (Augis, Kočiūnas 1993: 157).

If meaning is understood solely as a set of a defined number of semes, describing emotions—something that cannot be seen or touched—is difficult. From a cognitive perspective on language, meaning is understood as a concept at its lowest degree of actualization (Gudavičius 2000: 55). A concept is all the information about an object that exists in the minds of people who speak a particular language. A concept’s content consists not only of linguistic meanings, but language is one of the means by which a concept is formed and a way of studying it. The content of a concept depends on people’s experience and can therefore vary considerably. Information about some features of a concept is recorded in dictionary defini-

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tions. In language, a concept is represented by lexemes and phraseological expressions, ordinary word combinations, and structural and positional sentence patterns containing typical propositions (syntactic concepts). If the concepts of an individual author are to be elucidated, entire texts become the object of analysis (Popova, Sternin 1999: 8–11). Part of a concept’s content is revealed through conceptual metaphors.

Other names for emotional states are also associated with the concept represented in Lithuanian by the word liūdesys. We note that we use the term word relatively. In this case, we mean not only the noun liūdesys, but also the words liūdėti, liūdnas, liūdnai. There is no more suitable term for naming a group of words that describe the same feeling. By word here we mean the totality of grammatical forms. For example, participles are considered grammatical forms of the verb (Gudavičius 1994: 8). If we agree that liūdėti and liūdintis are one word, why could we not likewise call the words liūdesys, liūdėti, liūdnas one word, since they differ essentially only in their grammatical meaning?

Analysis of dictionary definitions helped somewhat in compiling a list of words representing the concept. Initially, only those words whose definitions repeat the group’s dominant term—the word liūdesys.—were inventoried. We then examined which words recur in the definitions of other words. Of course, in this case we have to rely on the intuition of the dictionary compilers. We also checked whether a common component could be distinguished in the meanings of all the words representing the concept. On the basis of these principles, the group of words representing the concept should look as follows: liūdesys, depresija, gedulas, graudulys (graudingumas), ilgesys, melancholija, nostalgija, nusiminimas, nuobodulys, sielvartas, širdgėla. These are not absolutely all the words associated with liūdesiu. Dialect words, such as širdperša, širdskaudis., have not been included in the list.

The aim of this article is to reveal, on the basis of usage examples, how emotional states of liūdesio are understood and differentiated in the Lithuanian worldview.

The object of analysis is not only examples of the use of the aforementioned nouns, but also of verbs and adjectives sharing the same root. The study draws on more than 5,000 examples from the corpus of Lithuanian fiction and journalism compiled by the Vytautas Magnus University Centre of Computational Linguistics¹.

Lithuanian dictionary definitions provide rather little information about this concept. To substantiate this claim, an analysis of just a few examples will suffice:

liūdesys (3ᵇ) a feeling of spiritual pain, distress; sorrow: L. felt pressure in her chest. Her eyes were full of sadness. Everyone was overcome by sadness DŽ 371;

liūdesys (3ᵇ) a feeling of spiritual pain, bitterness, or distress; grief, deep sadness: And longing gnawed at his heart, and sadness weighed on his chest (V. Krėvė). Time heals sadness (rš). A happy face smiles from the window, dimmed by barely visible sadness (rš). Sadness saps one’s strength (Rs) LKŽ^VII 598.

nusiminti [...] to become sad: The poor fellow returned home dejected DŽ 450.

heartache (1) grief, sadness: They said farewell with ~. She fell ill from ~. She poured out her ~ DŽ 809;

heartache (1) [...] grief, sadness: You will be heartbroken when your heart aches, the angel will say (J). What heartache I have had to endure from my own son! (Ss). With terrible heartache I have to say that my father’s

¹Examples taken from the corpus are marked with the letters KT. In other cases, the author and source are indicated.

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the house became a smugglers’ den (I. Simonaitytė) LKŽ_xiv 847. grief (1) distress, worry, heartache: Cause, bring about ~. He fell ill from great ~ DŽ 690; grief (1) [...] distress, worry, heartache: Grief weighs heavily on my heart (S. Nėris). She is terribly pale, but can no longer cry, though grief continues to gnaw at her (I. Simonaitytė). My soul is now full of grief (V. Krėvė). [...] Great grief torments him (trš). Cause grief (NdŽ). Oh, my greatest little grief! (V. Kudirka) LKŽ_xii 521–522.

There is no reluctance to rely on the synonym-based method of defining meaning, which is not very suitable for this kind of vocabulary; as a result, words with similar but not identical meanings are conflated. It turns out that sadness is the same as despondency, to feel despondent is no different from to become sad, while words denoting emotional states of clearly different intensity, heartache, grief, sadness, are said to mean almost the same thing. Matters are improved somewhat by the allusion to a metaphorical description of an emotional state: sadness is described as spiritual pain—that is, an association is drawn between spiritual affliction and bodily affliction. Most often, the easiest route is chosen in the dictionary: going round in circles, that is, defining some words by means of others. Thus, more informative ways of describing the meanings of such words are needed.

Having analyzed at least some of the text dealing with human emotions, one can argue that the vocabulary naming them is situational. Any words representing emotional concepts orient consciousness toward registering several key aspects: who experiences the emotional state, what causes the state, how the essence of this emotional state can be described, what its expression is like, etc. Not all these elements need to be stated directly in every utterance; some may be understood only from the broader context:

But I will soon remember that my joy is selfish, and say: “I (subject) am happy, while you (subject) may perhaps be sad that you will not be with your parents (cause)... I am a great egotist” ŠR JVUS 57; The old man (subject) shuffled about in place. “I got cold, I’m leaving,” he said. “I know that this little creature isn’t mine, but belongs to everyone; it’s wild. If you catch it, don’t tell me. Somehow my soul feels warm: look, God’s little beetle is alive, and so are you... If it is gone (cause), I’ll become sad; it seems then even Death will sharpen his scythe...” M VD 72.

Thus, it is clear that in each case the utterance identifies certain elements of the situation: the subject of the emotional state, its cause, and its expression.

This claim is also supported by recent studies by linguists examining the vocabulary of emotions, which state that such vocabulary is necessarily associated with a particular situation and identifies elements in that situation’s scenario (Bamberg 1997 b: 315).

Anna Wierzbicka (1999: 503–526) emphasizes the situational nature of vocabulary naming emotions and the associated approach to describing meaning. The descriptive formulas she presents are treated as comparisons between the emotion experienced by the person being discussed and the emotion that arises in one’s memory or imagination after reading the description of the situation.

E. M. Vol‘f states that the representation of the human inner world in language reflects a naïve worldview, which differs considerably from the scientific one (Vol‘f 1989: 55). According to

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According to Vol'f, statements describing emotional states are like models corresponding to a particular fragment of the inner world. This model includes three main elements: (1) the subject of the emotion, (2) the emotional state itself, (3) the cause of the emotional state. For example: He was delighted (the subject) that Vytautas had arrived (the cause).

Russian linguists Valentina Apresjan and Jurij Apresjan believe that, when describing the meaning of such words, it is essential to emphasize reference to a common or frequent situation, that is, the experience of many people associated with a particular situation. The meaning of an emotion, described in the way they propose, looks like this: pity of X for Y (Его жалость к больным была почти не беспредельной ‘His pity for the sick was practically boundless’) = “a feeling that disturbs X’s mental equilibrium and is caused by Y for X; a person experiences such a feeling when they think that someone has fallen into a bad situation and that the situation is worse than that person deserves (cause); a person feels something similar to what a human body feels when it is in pain, and the human body reacts to this feeling as it does to pain (bodily metaphor); a person experiencing this feeling wants to change another being’s situation so that it is not so bad (consequences)” (Apresjan, Apresjan 1993: 35). Later, Apresjan modifies this theory. He attempts to reconstruct the naïve worldview of emotions, the model of the world of human emotions reflected and conveyed by the means of the Russian language. Apresjan describes the scenario of the development of emotions not on the basis of data from the science of psychology, but on the basis of what is conveyed by language—that is, how language “sees,” “understands,” and “expresses” what is happening (Apresjan 1995: 52–53).

Analysis of several approaches to explaining the meanings of words denoting emotions shows that treating the meaning of these words as a model of a particular situation is especially useful, since it reflects not only the dynamics of the emotion but also those factors without which a particular emotion cannot be conceived. The scenario of an emotional situation reveals the naïve worldview. In our opinion, the following factors are important in describing emotional states of SADNESS:

(a) the subject of the emotion,

(b) the cause of the emotion,

(c) the location of the emotion,

(d) the characteristics of the emotional state,

(e) the expression of the emotion,

(f) the consequences.

We modify prototype theory slightly. It is traditionally believed that the objects or phenomena making up categories represent them to varying degrees: some better, others less well. An abstract or concrete image of the objects belonging to a category takes shape in people’s minds. This image is called a prototype if a person uses it as a basis for perceiving reality. The category member that is closest to the prototype is considered the best example of the class of objects making up that category. In determining the status of an element, a person compares it with the prototype and only then decides whether the element belongs to that category (Eleanor Rosch; cited in Beljavskaja 2000: 11). A set of features is essential to the characterization of a prototype. But what should be done when one has in mind an abstract entity whose typical features—and indeed any features at all—are difficult to describe? Prototype theory is therefore better suited to the semantic description of classes of concrete objects than of abstract ones. In order to apply it to the semantic representation of emotions

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to describe it, the characteristics of this vocabulary must be taken into account. We regard the concept, best represented by the word sadness, as a certain emotional category. The most typical representative of this concept in language is the word sadness because, according to the synonym dictionary (Lyberis 2002: 44), its meaning most precisely reflects the general meaning of the synonym series. It is the center of the category. All the other lexemes differ from it in that they describe not the entire domain of emotional reality, but only particular parts of it. The semantic features shared by the words representing the concept are elements of the situational scenario. After all, every emotion belonging to this continuum has a subject and a cause (the loss or absence of something important, a person one needs, or moral values). However, they differ in the nature of the cause and in their characteristics of expression. For example, the word sadness can most likely be used to name an emotional state caused by various kinds of loss, whereas the cause of mourning is more strictly defined.

This article will focus on just one part of the situational scenario associated with sadness emotions—the analysis of the correlation between the names of emotional states and the causes that bring them about. This choice also determined the scope of the material analyzed. We will not analyze the conceptual metaphors that reveal part of the content of this concept or the semantics of the relevant phraseology; instead, we will limit our analysis to individual utterances featuring words that represent this concept.

The most general cause of the emotions in the SADNESS continuum—loss or lack of something—can be differentiated in various ways.

The object of loss or lack is inseparable from the cause of the emotion: a person, an animal, or a thing. The loss of moral values also evokes SADNESS emotions. Clearly, the emotions under discussion are experienced only if the lost or absent object is important to the person. The degree of importance also varies. The object of lack may simply be something very necessary for meeting everyday needs (although one can live without it), or it may be vital—something without which life becomes impossible.

All the causes that evoke SADNESS emotions can be divided into two groups: loss and lack (in this case, lack is not the consequence of a loss; a person longs for something they have never had). Emotions of this type are experienced when a person lacks people, animals, moral values, activities, things, or other matters of lesser importance. The losses that evoke them are of two kinds. If what is important (people, animals, moral values, things) is lost only temporarily, a return to the previous situation is still possible. In this case, the emotional state anticipates a future prospect. Complete loss (usually referring here to a person’s death, as well as the loss of moral values) is irreversible. The nature and intensity of the emotional state depend perhaps most strongly on the degree of loss.

On the basis of the available material, it can be argued that the causes of emotional states called sadness encompass a very broad range.

The prototypical SADNESS situation can most likely be associated with the loss of a close person through physical death or spiritual separation. In the latter case, the situation can be changed (at least such a possibility exists in theory):

Still my little heart would grieve, / That I shall not see my dear boy KID, 125; But when I heard that he was leaving us, I don’t know why I felt sad, sorry for him B R₁, 162;

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After all, every love is felt. It constantly reminds us of the beloved object, makes us long for it, grieve when we lose it, and rejoice when it is present M-P AŠ 19;

The girl decided to forget the deceiver and enrolled in a prestigious college. They were separated for four years, but Andrė did not grieve for long KT.

One grieves over the lack of things, objects, or abstract values that are certainly not the most important:

As they say, perhaps it is better sometimes to sin and regret it than to grieve all one’s life over not having sinned KT;

His action on that occasion was noble. I did not get a ticket to “Faust” and was indescribably saddened KT;

Always a leader and an exceptionally active and sociable girl, she would feel sad only when she could not think of anything to do KT.

In the cases mentioned, the losses are not great; moreover, what is lacking at the moment can, with greater or lesser difficulty, be obtained again.

The physical loss of a close, dear person, or the deaths of many people, is irreversible; therefore, the emotional state is by no means comparable to that experienced when one does not have a ticket to a performance or does not know what to do, yet it can still be called by the same word:

At last, Kaunas is the city of your sorrow, because on the outskirts of this city you buried your son and sister Mč LMM 30;

As war, killings, and destruction began, the doctor grew increasingly sorrowful: he was oppressed by the atrocities of the Hitlerites, the starving of prisoners of war, the slaughter of Jews, the massacres of Lithuanians... KT;

Vincas lay in state in the gymnasium building. We wept and grieved as though we had lost our own brother, who had died for Lithuania, for Vilnius KT;

After all, the dead do not disappear; they remain. We must not grieve for them excessively or disturb their eternal peace with our lamentations KT;

Of course, we are very sorry that diplomats were killed in the former Yugoslavia this Sunday; the international force is also deeply saddened by this KT.

Experiences caused by the loss of a beloved animal can also be described in this way:

Ieva and Aivaras were very sad when our little dog died of distemper KT.

It can be concluded that in certain cases language is not inclined to differentiate between emotional states, since emotional states caused by quite different reasons—and therefore differing in intensity and consequences—are designated by the same word. The death of a loved one and the loss of an animal, however beloved, generally do not give rise to identical experiences, but in the worldview expressed by language they may be defined in the same way. Therefore, it seems entirely justified to regard the word sadness as the dominant term in the corresponding synonym series: it expresses the meaning of the entire group of words in the most general way.

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Words denoting the concept of despondency are associated with emotional states typically caused by the loss of moral or related values: What stuck with me from the conversation in the director’s office was that the company no longer needed my services, but I should not be despondent, since I would receive two months’ salary in advance, and I would find a new job during that time KT. Disappointment is caused by unfulfilled expectations (a person becomes despondent because they do not have or did not get what they consider important and necessary, or fail to complete an important task):

And there is no need to be despondent if you are not like the winner of the “Miss World” crown. Being beautiful and looking beautiful are not one and the same KT; During the sessions, simple games were used to convince women that there is no need to be despondent if something does not work out the first time KT; He liked taking part in horse races with Širšis. Riding him was then an extraordinary pleasure. I simply felt that he had the same desire as I did: to win. And win we did, of course. The despondent competitors, the village lads, would console themselves: “A lightning bolt, not a horse! Nothing good can come of his taking part in races” Š K 7.

Despondency may be caused by a temporary separation from a dear or very important person:

Gundė did not come to church the following Sunday either. I was utterly despondent. A terrible anxiety pierced my heart as if with nails Š K 69.

Taking any usage example, one can see that it refers to events whose consequences can still be remedied. Thus, the loss and the feeling of deprivation are temporary. Therefore, the “weight” and negative charge of despondency are nonetheless less than those of sadness.

Longing, like all emotional states associated with this semantic field, is determined by loss and deprivation. Two things matter here: what is missing and is longed for, and how long such a situation may continue. The object of longing is never associated with material values, such as money, real estate, or possessions. The prototypical situation is longing for a beloved and dear person who is not here now:

How shall I ride out/ onto the great road,/ will you long for/ me, maiden? VD₁₂ 126; Though they lived half-starved at home, everyone longs for home and parents. Yet most do so hopelessly. Their parents neither write nor come KT; I, too, would like to see familiar faces as often as possible; I miss the participants, just as teachers miss their pupils KT; Driven by the misfortunes of war with her family (her husband and two daughters, aged five and seven) to Germany, to Freiburg, I longed terribly for my mother, who had remained in Lithuania KT.

A similar feeling is experienced toward one’s most beloved pets:

I had a Saint Bernard named Aza and a fox terrier named Čita. [...] But I kept missing Bukis. Bukis was my ideal dog KT.

The word to long for is also often used when speaking of the absence of abstract things and moral values:

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We long for truth, for productive work; may the stagnation of those long years pass more quickly, may those leaders who have grown conceited and come to believe in their own omniscience leave their chairs K NS 17; The computerized, technocratic and pragmatic world of the late twentieth century unexpectedly reveals that what it longs for most is genuine feeling, love, human warmth KT;... a Lithuanian, when speaking or singing the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, calls her by the most beautiful titles. Those titles conceal a spiritual beauty longed for by a person worn out by life’s hardships and inner problems KT; If you want to have a family, long for feminine tenderness and the warmth of little hands, if you are sure that you will be able to love, to become a friend... KT.

The feeling of loss experienced when far from one’s homeland or home is also called longing:

Are these children content with life on the street? No. Both groups long for home very much KT; Yet, however beautiful my future might be, I longed for my homeland. Without it, without its people, what am I?.. It is frightening to think! KT.

All the objects of longing mentioned above share a common feature: what is longed for belongs to the past and left the very best impression. The separation that brought about the unpleasant state now being experienced is most likely temporary. The former situation may recur; at least, that is what is hoped. This is not merely the loss felt when one lacks what is dear, familiar, and necessary, but also, at the same time, joy at the prospect of a future meeting. This emotional state is oriented toward the future.

LONGING is almost never used to name an emotional state motivated by the complete loss of an important object, its death (if it is a person). This word should denote an emotional state belonging to the continuum of SADNESS and characterized by a strong positive attitude, because, as already mentioned, it describes a situation in which one hopes that the currently absent subject or object will nevertheless be present again someday.

NOSTALGIA is oriented toward the past. The common feature of the objects of NOSTALGIA is that they were already sufficiently significant, pleasant, and useful in the past and, apparently, will never recur. What belonged to the past is idealized. NOSTALGIA always looks back toward some object of the past. This is not only one’s homeland, one’s native land:

What matters is this constant, everyday return to the past. And what we need most now, as we seek to understand the meaning of the present day, is not the romanticization of the past, nor nostalgia for one’s homeland, but an assessment of the environment of those days and of ourselves KT; Thus, language barriers, longing for his birthplace and home descended upon the boy in his teenage years. Nostalgia for the land that had raised and nurtured him—a subconscious and conscious spiritual disposition that connected him to his homeland KT.

Such an emotional state is often triggered by memories of the past:

That is how one left-wing leader commented on a poll published in Lietuvos rytas. The left-wing opposition explains the government’s falling poll ratings not as nostalgia for bygone times, but as people’s natural reaction to the government’s actions KT;... in such a case, it is easy to exploit the past and easy to accuse of nostalgia for the Soviet past anyone who proposes seeing Russia as a partner with rhythms that are inevitable, though threatening KT.

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It is completely impossible to feel NOSTALGIA for an object or a deceased friend.

GEDULAS differs from other words naming emotions of SADNESS through its very clearly defined sphere of use. This word names not only an emotional state but also certain norms of behavior: when in mourning, people dress and behave accordingly and refrain from merrymaking. GEDULAS is associated with an absolute loss; this situation can no longer be changed. The emotional state is caused by the death of a loved one related by kinship or marriage:

Losing one’s closest person is incredibly difficult. One mourns for the rest of one’s life KT;... on the eve of the funeral, those wishing to say goodbye to the deceased girl barely fit into the funeral hall. The covered coffin was submerged in white blossoms. Renata was mourned by her older brother Darius, her sister Jurgita, three years younger, her grandfather, guardians, and other relatives KT,... bore two sons, lived decently and happily, for he was a hard worker, such as one rarely finds. Sadly, a tumor took him to the grave while he was still young. Hermina mourned her husband for a long time, patiently bearing the lot of a widow, but time gradually healed the pain in her heart KT.

People also mourn the death of a person known and dear to an entire nation or even the world:

For these and other immense services to Lithuania, people dubbed Vytautas Vytautas the Great. When he died, he was mourned not only by his relatives but by all of Lithuania KT; One Hindu fanatic murdered the leader of India. News of M. Gandhi’s death shook the world. Presidents, prime ministers, kings, and dictators mourned the 78-year-old ascetic KT.

The emotional state called SIELVARTAS is most often caused by the complete loss of something very important, or a great misfortune. Returning to the original situation—that is, one in which a person once again possesses what they now lack—is impossible. People grieve over separation from a loved one. The loss may be spiritual—severed ties—or physical—death:

When a child has to be weaned, the mother too grieves that she and the child are becoming more and more separated KT; Rolandas grieved deeply over the divorce, when his wife would find another life partner KT; Stories written on themes of exile are published in the book “Two Galaxies” (1990). And, after returning, the writer grieved that most of his acquaintances, writers... had turned away from himKT;

... we will find quite a few songs consoling loved ones, especially mothers and beloved women. Those songs inspired a fighting spirit and urged people to replace their fallen brothers. There was no time to grieve for the fallen KT; If you grieve for a dead son, blame the moment of his birth; at his birth, his death had been foretold KT.

This also names the emotional state caused by the still merely anticipated loss of a dear person:

Laughter filled Baltaragis’s heart, and he wandered about silently like a shadow, listening to it and rejoicing, yet at times grieving so deeply that he could find no place for himself [the father knew that he might soon lose his daughter – S. P.] B BM 33; J. Griniuvienė grieved deeply over her son’s illness, wept, and fell into depression, for this was already her second unsuccessful childbirth KT.

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One grieves over particularly important global and societal problems, irreversible changes:

The creator of didactic stories for children grieves over “Americanization” KT; In this world we grieve over crimes and villainy KT.

In other cases, the object of loss is exceptionally important moral values: a good name, honor, spiritual peace:

And his wife—yes, she feels deeply humiliated beside such a serious and holy man, who can grieve so over sin KT; But I am a cheerful person and do not intend to grieve over defeat KT.

The semantic range of GRIEF is apparently quite broad, since the term is also used for an emotional state caused by a material object, the loss of money, or the lack of things (both abstract and concrete) that are not usually vital:

... when giving a gift, one need neither feel obligated nor grieve over the expense, but simply be glad that you have given pleasure to someone else KT; Conclusion: short and plump girls need not grieve that they do not look like models KT; Some sincerely grieve over a leaking roof, burst pipes, heat loss, or simply a collapsing house KT.

The semantics of heartache are somewhat narrower. The word refers almost exclusively to emotional states caused by the complete loss of an exceptionally important object (physical or mental), or by the perception of a real threat of such a loss. The object of this emotional state is not only loved ones, but also fundamental values in life (freedom, homeland, a mother’s love):

She wrote to me about it in letters from New York, where she had gone to soothe the heartache of bereavement and separation KT; The people of Zanavykija recall 23 August 1939 and its consequences with heartache; thousands of them suffered violence and injustices during the Soviet occupation KT; Not every child robs and impoverishes their mother. Yet there are fewer and fewer such children. Most remember their deceased mothers with heartache and cannot forgive themselves for having taken advantage of her boundless kindness, leaving only crumbs for her to live on KT; Elena spoke with great heartache about the two little children who died in childhood KT.

Thus, this emotional state must be exceptionally intense and acutely painful for the person experiencing it.

In defining the causes of those emotional states that are called depression in language, it should be clarified that this article does not aim to analyze the scientific worldview encoded in language. “The scientific worldview is the totality of scientific knowledge about the world accumulated by individual sciences at a particular stage of societal development” (Kornilov 1999: 10–14). The lexeme mentioned is a term from the relevant scientific field denoting a particular type of mental disorder. It is not important to us what psychologists call depression,

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however, what matters is what causes an emotional state to be named by precisely this word in the Lithuanian linguistic worldview—that is, a kind of naïve psychology. In everyday speech, when this word is used, not all the features associated with the corresponding scientific term are intended, but some of them are nevertheless reflected. After all, such a word enters the language from the relevant field of science and thus brings with it some of its semantics.

Any statement by a non-psychologist that contains the word depresija is not a diagnosis but a description of a situation, an attempt to be understood accordingly:

... I’m thinking as I pay the fine. I think, but I don’t say anything like that—just try starting something with an unfamiliar police officer! I was overcome by such depression, just such... We all know what the best cure for depression is; we’re not little children. So I’m driving to the nearest bar KT.

In the naïve linguistic worldview, depresija is called a state caused by major upheavals:

Her 34-year-old son died this February. According to her coworkers, the woman was overcome by depression after this tragedy and had to take medication KT; In Lithuania, I spent five years building creative workshops; meanwhile, the money lost its value, my father died tragically, and I was overcome by deep depression KT; The prisoner is suffering from depression. After being forcibly taken from a luxury villa in the Dedinja district, S. Milošević began to suffer from depression in prison KT.

In this case, MELANCHOLY, too, departs from the meaning of the corresponding term. This emotional state is characterized by the fact that it is often a personality trait, a constant state, rather than the result of some events. Specific events are not usually associated with great misfortunes, total loss, or the absence of an especially important object:

Apparently, yesterday’s melancholy overwhelmed the two of them and the Princess because of the change in weather KT; Melancholy just washes over me that we didn’t have such a great stadium earlier; there, we would surely have thrown the shot 7.20 into the distance KT; Every morning, as soon as I think of how many meaningless movements I’ll have to make in the kitchen, in bed, in the office: back and forth and in circles—melancholy gets hold of me KT; We go to “Ponių laimė.” She eats a lot, and melancholy gets hold of me KT.

The cause of MELANCHOLY could be described more briefly as simply a lack of memorable and meaningful activity.

The word graudulys lies quite far from the center of the concept. The emotional state so named is caused by losses that probably have the mildest consequences. The loss is most often not total; the situation can be remedied:

After he left, a strange sadness came over me, a kind of emptiness arose KT; I watched the shores of Europe recede and, overcome with sadness, asked myself: would I ever see Lithuania again KT.

The cause of GRAUDULYS may also be connected with death, but in this case the difference between GRIEF, HEARTACHE, and SADNESS is clear. Usually, this word is used to name

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an emotional state caused by thoughts about the past; that is, what is meant is not a currently experienced feeling of loss or lack, but memories of certain events, signs of those events:

My heart tightens, Dad, when I go there. Not because my loved ones lie there. I cannot go to any cemetery. I am overcome with emotion when I see so many people in one place who have lived out their lives KT; Emotion tightened Aloyzas’s throat: had his father seen from above how he sowed rye in the autumn? Could he see it now, so beautifully grown, rippling in the breeze? KT.

Boredom lies on the periphery of the concept of sadness. This word denotes an emotional state associated not with loss—it is caused by monotonous activity and the absence of change:

... that one of my most significant weaknesses as an employee is boredom, which my work sometimes causes me KT; “Monotony, routine,” she continued, “that’s what brings on boredom” KT; Yet everyday life weighs us down with oppressive boredom KT.

The term also denotes an emotional state caused not by deprivation, but simply by the absence of things one might strive for—a kind of “saturation” with life:

... it is already unsettling to wonder what else I might want, what else might be enjoyable, because pleasures are very quickly exhausted and one becomes oversaturated with them. Then boredom and apathy begin to set in KT; He was 28 years old, married, raising a little group of children, and living in the suburbs. Yet he was terribly weighed down by boredom and a life without a glimmer of hope KT.

To sum up what has been said, the following conclusions can be drawn. Words denoting emotions of sadness differentiate this semantic field quite comprehensively according to the cause of the emotional state. The correlation between the names of emotional states and the causes that bring them about is shown in the table:

TABLE 1. EMOTIONAL STATES AND THE CAUSES THAT BRING THEM ABOUT

Object of emotional states

Complete loss

Temporary loss

Lack (never having had)

Person

Sadness, dejection, longing, mourning, sorrow, heartache, depression, emotional distress

Sadness, dejection, longing, sorrow, emotional distress

Sadness, longing

Moral values (homeland, interpersonal relationships)

Sadness, nostalgia, grief, heartache, depression, sorrow

Sadness, dejection, longing, nostalgia, grief

Sadness, longing

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CONTINUATION OF TABLE 1

Object of emotional states

Complete loss

Temporary loss

Lack (never having had)

Important objects

Sadness, dejection, grief

Sadness, dejection, grief

Sadness

Animals

Sadness

Longing

–

Other things (of lesser value and not so important)

Sadness, dejection

Sadness, dejection

Sadness

Absence of meaningful activity

–

–

Sadness, melancholy, boredom

In the Lithuanian linguistic worldview, experiences caused by complete or temporary loss are differentiated in greater detail. The language chooses more words to describe them, which means that it is important to indicate the nuances of emotional states that depend on the nature of the lost object, the type of loss, and possible future prospects.

However, language also tends to generalize. The same word can designate emotional states caused by very different reasons and therefore truly unlike one another.

Although language offers quite a number of variants for naming phenomena of a similar nature, their synonymy is only apparent. In this case, linguistic units are synonymous only insofar as they describe emotions belonging to the same continuum; that is, they have a shared component of meaning and can therefore be considered members of one semantic field. When one name for an emotion is replaced by another in a text, some information is lost or distorted, cf.:

*He grieves for being late to class. The neighbor, having lost her son, does not stop grieving. *The neighbor, having lost her son, became dejected. He became dejected for being late to class.

Of course, the first sentences in the pairs are understandable; nevertheless, the cause and description of the emotional state do not correspond to each other.

On the other hand, we cannot say that every emotion (the number of its variants is practically countless) has its own label—a word that names it. Language is not a mirror image of emotions. The world of emotions and the linguistic means that name them may not coincide. People use the same word to name different experiences, so what is actually being discussed becomes clear only from the context. The relationship between typical emotional states and their reflection in language is not strict; however, because linguistic elements (names of emotions) are oriented toward prototypical situations, speakers understand one another.

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ABBREVIATIONS OF SOURCES

B BM – Boruta K. Baltaragio malūnas, Vilnius: Vaga, 1971.

B R₁ – Biliūnas J. Writings 1, Vilnius: Vaga, 1980.

DŽ – Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian, Vilnius: Publishing House of Science and Encyclopedias, 1993.

KID₁ – Military Historical Songs 1, Vilnius: Vaga, 1985.

K NS – Kašauskas S. Netiesos sakymas, Vilnius: Mintis, 1988.

LKŽ – Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, Vilnius, 1941–2002.

Mč LMM – Mačiukevičius J. Laiškai mylimoms moterims, Vilnius: Naujoji Rosma, 2000.

M-P AŠ – Mykolaitis-Putinas V. Altorių šešėly, Kaunas: Šviesa, 1983.

M VD – Malūkas E. Vilko duona, Vilnius: Magilė, 1999.

Š K – Šeinius I. Kuprelis, Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 1996.

ŠR JVUS – Šatrijos Ragana. Jau vakaruose užgeso saulėlydžiai, Kaunas: Šviesa, 1996.

VD₁₁ – Wedding Songs.2, Vilnius: Vaga, 1988.

LITERATŪRA

APRESJAN, J. 1995: Образ человека по данным языка: попытка системного описания. Вопросы языко-знания 1995 (1), 37–67.

APRESJAN, V., APRESJAN, J. 1993: Метафора в семантическом представлении эмоций. Вопросы языко-знания 1993 (3), 27–35.

AUGIS, R., KOČIŪNAS, R., red., 1993: Psichologijos žodynas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla.

BAMBERG, A. 1997 a: Emotion talk(s): The role of perspective in the construction of emotions. Niemeier, S., Dirven, R., eds., The Language of Emotions: Conceptualization, Expression and Theoretical Foundation, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 209–225.

BAMBERG, A. 1997 b: Language, concepts and emotions: the role of language in the constructions of emotions. Language Sciences 19 (4), 309–340.

BELJAVSKAJA, E. G. 2000: О характере когнитивных оснований языковых категорий. Когнитивные аспекты языковой категоризации. Сборник научных трудов, Рязань: Рязанский государственный университет, 9–11.

GUDAVIČIUS, A. 1994: Leksinė semantika. Vienetai. Ryšiai. Struktūros, Šiauliai: Šiaulių pedagoginis institutas.

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KORNILOV, O. A. 1999: Языковые картины мира как производные национальных менталитетов, Москва: Московский государственный университет.

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POPOVA, Z. D., STERNIN, I. A. 1999: Понятие „концепт“ в лингвистических исследованиях, Воронеж: Воронежский государственный университет.

VOL’F, E. M. 1989: Эмоциональные состояния и их представление в языке. Арютюнова, Н. Д., ред., Логический анализ языка: Проблемы интенсиональных и прагматических контекстов, Москва: Наука, 55–75.

WIERZBICKA [ВЕЖБИЦКАЯ], A. 1999: Семантические универсалии и описание языков, Москва: Языки русской культуры.

Silvija Papaūrėlytė Šiaulių universitetas P. Višinskio g. 38, 5400 Šiauliai, Lietuva [email protected]

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