Self-other Dimension of Chinese Shame Words

Abstract

This paper explores the lexical semantic properties of five near-synonymous Chinese words expressing the emotion of SHAME. The concept of self-construal is vital in understanding emotions such as shame as it relies on the reflections of oneself. The interdependent self-construal is a view of the self through relationship with others and it is related to the characteristics of SHAME in Chinese context. The current study carried out an in-depth examination of how interdependent self-construal shapes the shame concept in Chinese, and how features concerning “self versus others” are encoded in Chinese shame words. The “self versus others” features that we look at include cause attribution (to self vs. others), probable relevant outcome (affect self vs. others), social relations (between self and others that cause shame), social norm (personal values vs. social norms), and presence (or absence) of audience. We examine whether and how these features play a crucial role in the Chinese SHAME concept and how they contribute to the differences between the shame words in Mandarin Chinese. The features can be described as a dimension that is implicit in the denotative meaning of these words.