Interaction of logical and emotive meanings

The general notions concerning emotiveness have been set out in
Part I, § 6—"Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View" (p. 57). However,
some additional information is necessary for a better understanding of
how logical and emotive meanings interact.

It must be clearly understood that the logical and the emotive are
built into our minds and they are present there in different degrees when
we think of various phenomena of objective reality. The ratio of the two
elements is reflected in the composition of verbal chains, i.e. in expres-
sion.¹

Different emotional elements may appear in the utterance depending
on its character and pragmatic aspect.

The emotional elements of the language have a tendency to wear
out and are constantly replaced by new ones (see examples on p. 101—the
word dramatic and others). Almost any word may acquire a greater or a
lesser degree of emotiveness. This is due to the fact that, as B. Tomashev-
sky has it, "The word is not only understood, it is also experienced."²

There are words the function of which is to arouse emotion in the
reader or listener. In such words emotiveness prevails over intellectuali-
ty. There are also words in which the logical meaning is almost entirely
ousted. However, these words express feelings which have passed through
our mind and therefore they have acquired an intellectual embodiment.
In other words, emotiveness in language is a category of our minds and,
consequently, our feelings are expressed not directly but indirectly, that
is, by passing through our minds. It is therefore natural that some emo-
tive words have become the recognized symbols of emotions; the emo-
tions are, as it were, not expressed directly but referred to.

"The sensory stage of cognition of objective reality is not only
the basis of abstract thinking, it also accompanies it, bringing the
elements of sensory stimuli into the process of conceptual thinking,
and thus defining the sensory grounds of the concepts as well as the
combination of sensory images and logical concepts in a single act of
thinking."³

We shall try to distinguish between elements of language which have
emotive meaning in their semantic structure and those which acquire
this meaning in the context under the influence of a stylistic device or
some other more expressive means in the utterance.

A greater or lesser volume of emotiveness may be distinguished in
words which have emotive meaning in their semantic structure. The most
highly emotive words are words charged with emotive meaning to the
extent that the logical meaning can hardly be registered. These are in-
terjections and all kinds of exclamations. Next come epithets, in which

¹ См. также Балли Ш. Французская стилистика. М., 1961, с. 17.

² Томашевский Б. Язык писателя. «Литературная газета», №69, 2 июня 1951.

³ Бабайцева В. В. О выражении в языке взаимодействия между чувственной и
абстрактной ступенями познания действительности.— «Язык и мышление», М., 1967,
с. 57.

we can observe a kind of parity between emotive and logical meaning.
Thirdly come epithets of the oxymoronic type, in which the logical
meaning prevails over the emotive but where the emotive is the result of
the clash between the logical and illogical.