Emotion categorization in Moroccan Arabic and English: a Prototype Approach

Abstract

Cross-linguistic research on emotion shows that there are similarities and differences in the conceptualization of emotions in different cultures. Using the prototype approach, we explored emotion categorization in Moroccan Arabic (MA) and compared it to American English (AE). Two studies were conducted. The first study reveals that there are 131 prototypical emotion categories in MA. The second study investigates how these emotions are categorized according to native speakers’ judgement. The results of this study show that in both varieties there are six basic level emotion categories: love, surprise, and happiness within the positive superordinate category; and anger, fear, and sadness within the negative superordinate category. In the MA study, however, there were two additional categories: shame and hatred. The differences between the two varieties exist at the level of subcategories which includes culture-specific emotions in each variety. As a recommendation for further research, we suggested investigating the lexical equivalence of emotions between English and MA and explore the reasons behind this lexical anisomorphism.