Title: | A comparative analysis of legal versus cultural and psychological connotations of the term ‘guilt’: implications for cognitive linguistics and for legal sciences |
Authors: | Strębska-Liszewska, Katarzyna |
Keywords: | guilt; cognitive linguistics; legal definition; conceptualization |
Issue Date: | 2020 |
Citation: | "Linguistica Silesiana" nr 41 (2020), s. 105-121 |
Abstract: | The present article is concerned with the notion of ‘guilt’ as understood by the legal
sciences and in the context of psychology and culture studies. Although legal
connotations are unavoidable, ‘guilt’ is a term emotionally related to other feelings
like ‘shame’, ‘fear’, ‘sadness’ etc. The analysis shall take a closer look at legal
definitions of ‘guilt’ and ‘culpability’ at work in the American, Polish and German
legal systems and refer the equivalents existing in these languages (wina,Schuld) to
the concept of guilt understood as an emotion. As it turns out, legal definitions do not
account for conceptual dimension of meaning and as such, they can only serve as
departure points for further analysis to be complemented with cognitive analysis.
‘Guilt’ is a culturally determined and complex emotion that may be ‘dissected’ into
several more basic emotional states. The underlying assumption is that there are
differences in the understanding of the concept ‘guilt’ across languages which must
be taken into account by the translators who deal with translational equivalents. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12128/15733 |
DOI: | 10.24425/linsi.2020.133267 |
ISSN: | 0208-4228 |
Appears in Collections: | Artykuły (W.Hum.)
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