The Diversity of Human Emotions

Gertraud Magold

• 02 juli 2025
• 9783819756290

Samenvatting:

Humans possess eight basic emotions and thousands of complex emotional nuances. This scientific essay examines how German with 4,000-5,000 emotion terms shows "negativity bias," while English as a global "emotion collector" encompasses 6,000-7,200 terms. Through cross-cultural analysis, it becomes clear: German language tends toward introspection, English toward aesthetic diversity. Untranslatable terms like "Fernweh" or "Saudade" reveal that human emotionality is richer than any single language can capture, offering insights into cultural wisdom about feelings.