It has long been received wisdom in semantics and pragmatics that 'the head' and 'the heart' are two opposing forces, a view that has led scholars, until now, to explore the mental processes behind cognition, and the mental processes behind emotion, as two separate entities. This bold, innovative book challenges this view, and provides an original study of how we communicate our emotions through language, drawing on both pragmatic theory and affective science. It begins with the assumption that emotional or expressive meaning plays such a central role in human interaction that any pragmatic theory worth its salt must account for it. It meets the associated challenges head-on and strives to integrate affect within one theory of utterance interpretation, showing that emotional meaning and rationality/reasoning can be analysed within one framework. Written in a clear and concise style, it is essential reading for anyone interested in communication and emotion.

‘Wharton and de Saussure’s Pragmatics and Emotion is a stimulating read and provides much food for thought. They convincingly argue the centrality of emotions to human experience and to language usage, despite perennial neglect throughout the history of Western philosophy. Their modifications of Relevance Theory are no doubt a welcome contribution to the field, and this book will be of interest not only to those working in linguistic pragmatics, but also those with an interest in the philosophy of language, evolutionary psychology, and the cognitive sciences more broadly.’

Richard J. Whitt Source: John Benjamins e-Platform