Jausmų raiška jaustukais mokinių kalboje

BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 AGNĖ ALEKSAITĖ Institute of Lithuanian Language EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS WITH EMOTIONS IN STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE KEY WORDS: emoticons, student language, borrowed words, curses. Emoticons are actively used in colloquial language to express various feelings. This essential part of speech “consists of words that express feelings, acts of will and impulses directly and expressly without naming them” (DLKG 2006: 462). Although in electronic communication, which is now often replacing verbal communication, sentiments are often used for this purpose (see Wolf 2000: 827-833; Tossell 2012: 659-663), verbal expression of feelings is not excluded here, for which emoticons are best suited. However, there is almost no research on how emoticons function in the current Lithuanian language, what changes and innovations there are (more research is being done on the fonosemantic of emoticons, cf. Zabarskaitė 2009: 91–110). The language of the students is particularly suitable for research, as it contains the seeds of various language innovations or changes. Since 2015, the Research Centre for General Language of the Institute of Lithuanian Language has been operating a Group of School Lithuanian Studies (led by Dr. Aurelija Tamulionienė), which studies the language of pupils and their linguistic attitudes. The Association „Lituanistų sambūris“, in cooperation with the researchers of the School Lithuanian Studies Group, under the project “Integration of changes in the vocabulary of the modern Lithuanian language into the teaching content and development of teachers’ subject competences” supported by the Education Development Center, organized two surveys of pupils and teachers about the vocabulary of the Lithuanian language, its use, teaching and evaluation. In September 2015, a questionnaire of 15 questions was presented to students on the survey website apklausa.lt, which covered the use of international words, dialects, new words, curses, language richness (students had to explain what the words aukštielninkas and meldai mean, identify what emotions they express their feelings in the situations when they are among friends and communicate with them, etc.). The students’ writing habits of electronic communication, their ability to use paper or online dictionaries were also investigated. The aim of the questionnaire is to assess how well students know different layers of vocabulary, as well as to test the possibilities of broader research on individual topics of the questionnaire. The aim of the article is to analyze the expression of emotions in emoticons in the language of students and to evaluate the relationship between Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian emoticons. One of the 15 questions asked to the students was: What emotions would you use to express your feelings in the following situations when you are among friends and communicate with them? In this question, it was wanted to investigate whether students understand what are emoticons, as well as to find out which emoticons are used most often. The hypothesis was raised that Lithuanian and English emoticons are competing strongly in usage or even the latter are taking the upper hand (see figure). The presence of elements of this foreign language in the native language is greatly influenced by the prestige of English (see more. Sauciuc BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 AGNĖ ALEKSAITĖ. Jausmų raiška jaustukais mokinių kalboje | 2 2006: 269; Vaicekauskienė 2007: 34). “Contact between two cultures is probably rarely equally reciprocal, it is more often a relationship between the “giving” and “receiving” sides. The giving side is a prestigious culture, to which the receiving culture equals and whose prestige makes its language prestigious as well” (Vaicekauskienė 2007: 39), therefore, emoticons, like other means of linguistic expression, are borrowed by pupils primarily from the prestigious language, thus aiming not only to make their language prestigious, but also not to stand out from the group of peers. It should be emphasized that this means of emotional-expressive expression, which came from a foreign language, does not take long to take hold in the native language and to establish itself in the consciousness of language users (a long and close contact between the “receiving” and “giving” cultures is not necessary at all). For example, the vast majority of students from a Romanian university who came to Italy on a cultural exchange programme and spent only 10 days in the country immediately borrowed from Italian and began to use emoticons such as bah and boh (Sauciuc 2006: 269). PAV. Excerpts from the conversations of 8-11 year old girls on the website www.super.lt (2010) (Rita Miliūnaitė’s slide. Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian emotions highlighted). The American psychologist Robert Plutchik distinguished eight basic emotions (feelings) in the theory of basic emotions (feelings), i.e. acceptance, disgust, anger, fear, joy, sadness, surprise, expectation (delicateness) (Lekavičienė 2008: 383). The question on emoticons asked to students in the survey covers five of the eight basic emotions that are better understood by students, namely anger, fear, joy, disgust and amazement. In order to find out which emoticons students use, specific situations were presented, close to the students’ everyday life, when they need to express a feeling. It was assumed that most of the students answered the questions honestly. 532 students from different Lithuanian cities participated in the survey, and this number of respondents already allows to see the tendencies, how and with what emotions students tend to express their feelings when they are among friends and communicate with them. Since the survey was anonymous, students (their age groups were not specified) had to indicate only the school they attend. As can be seen from the answers, the survey was attended by pupils from Anykščiai, Elektrėnai, Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Kretinga, Mažeikiai, Palanga, Plungė, Raseiniai, Telšiai, Trakai, Ukmergė, Vilnius and Zarasai schools and gymnasiums. The first situation presented to the students in the survey is that you tell them that you stumbled over someone and caught your leg. As can be seen from Table 1, in the pupils’ answers the English word auč, which is not used in common language, and its closest Lithuanian equivalents – ai, oi (more about BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Agnieszka Aleksa. Emoticons as an expression of feelings in pupils’ language | 3 It happens that jaustuką auč ir jo vartoseną žr. Lietuvių kalbos naujažodžių duomenyną (ND)). Labai retais atveinstead of emoticons, pupils choose outliers (pyst, keberiokšt, pokšt, etc.), but it cannot be said that they do not distinguish between two different parts of speech – emotional and outlier, probably some did not want to highlight their experienced feelings, but the sounds of a specific action – tripping. By the way, “infidels are considered a separate part of the language only in Lithuanian and some other non-Indo-European languages. In grammar of other languages they are usually assigned to emoticons, sometimes to verbs” (DLKG 2006: 469). TABLE 1. Emoticons used by angry students and words that reject them1 Lithuanian emoticons, outtakes Non-Lithuanian emoticons Emoticons rejecting (pronouns, words euphemisms) Ai, aj (72) Auč, au, auch, auuch, ouč, jauč, tauč (85) ouch, [Fat Russian curse word] Oi, oj, oooj (65) Ups (3) Blemba, bliamba, blmb (17) Ui, uj, uoj (18) For fuck sake, ffs (3) Velnias, po velnių (8) Bam, bum (15), bumt (1) Going home (1) Pyst, pist (12) After a hundred thunders (1) Keberiokšt (3) One hundred pipes (1) Joke (3) The researcher of expressive vocabulary Jolanta Zabarskaitė emphasizes in her article “Emotions in speech and conversation” that “just like emotions – the emotional function is performed by curses, peripheral units of lexicon, oscillating in the system between emotions and phraseologisms” (Zabarskaitė 2009: 93–94), therefore, when expressing anger, many students prefer cursed words rather than emotions. Most of the time the young people wrote down various Russian curses, although they also mentioned Lithuanian curses (it is only doubtful whether they use them as such), e.g.: po velnių, po šimtas perkūnų, po šimtas pypkių. The Lithuanian curses are accompanied by euphemisms of Russian curses, such as bliamba and eina namas. When analyzing the answers, it was noted that many students did not use emoticons at all to express anger – either they did not understand the task or did not use them. Here and elsewhere in this article is presented authentic language of the students: Today a small problem happened:D You will not believe what happened.. climbing the stairs, I did not notice another step and fell.. I felt very sad:D; I shaved my leg very badly, how it hurts; I've been there, and I've been hit. Second situation: you were pleasantly surprised – you received an unexpected gift. In order to express a pleasant surprise, the pupils’ responses are predominantly Lithuanian (see table 2). In order to show great astonishment, the pupils pronounce the vowel or consonant of the emoticon continuously and reflect this by writing – jį 1 In this and other tables, the numbers in parentheses next to emoticons and other words with an emotionally connoted meaning show the frequency of use of these means of expression in the pupils’ answers to the questionnaire. In addition to the main emotionally connoted word, other spelling variants are provided. BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Agnieszka Aleksa. Expression of emotions with emoticons in students' language | 4 doubles, e.g.: oo, avv, or triples, e.g., ooo. When expressing anger, young people usually use primary, or non-derived, emoticons, which “have no defined morphological form” (DLKG 2006: 462), but in the second situation there are also secondary, or derived, emoticons – “derived independent words that have lost their nominative function and often – their morphological features” (DLKG 2006: 463), e.g., valio (see valioti). To express surprise, young people use not only words that represent language etiquette, e.g.: thank you, thank you very much, but also curses, because “[c]urses are not always used to express negative feelings about reality, sometimes they are used to express otherwise strong, ‘overheated’ emotions (e.g., surprise, strong surprise, even sudden success, etc.)” (Zabarskaitė 2009: 101). TABLE 2. Emoticons used by astonished students and words that reject them Lithuanian emoticons Non-Lithuanian emoticons Words that reject emoticons (slang) (slang, profanity) Wow (14); vau (42); Good (4); kai good (1) now here good (1); wau (2) O, oo, ooo (47) Omg (21) Power (3) Thank you (30), thank you very [uncensored word] thank you very much (5) much (4), Aww, aw (16); avv (2) py... Ak (18) Valio (10) Some students express surprise, confused with appreciation, not with emoticons, but with longer sentences, e.g. : Go you yourself, as cute from your side; It's so fun! For the first time I received such an unexpected gift; Dude, I got a good gift, I didn't expect it at all. Another situation presented to the students – you disgusted with an unpleasant smell. In the answers of the pupils only Lithuanian emotions predominate, English emotions occur only one after another (see table 3). The most commonly used emoticon fu is not included in the Contemporary Lithuanian Language Dictionary (CLD), although it is included in the Lithuanian Language Dictionary and in the General Lithuanian Language Dictionary (GLD), which is being completed. True, the Lithuanian language dictionary (LKŽ) does not make a clear distinction between the emoticons fu, fui and fe, but there is an opinion that the stylistic nuances of these emoticons, meaning disgust, differ: „fe – 1. to express disgust (emotional function): Fe, throw! ; 2. sešlykštint (emotive function): Fe, what a pimple. fi – to express disgust (emotional function): Fi, how disgusting. fu – 1. to signify disgust: Fu, what a black dog; 2. disgust: Fu, you're not a girl. fui – 1. to express stronger disgust: Fu, don’t eat that fruit; 2. more pa sišlykštint: I don’t understand those new customs – fucking” (Zabarskaitė 2009: 93). BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Agnieszka Aleksa. Expression of emotions in students’ speech using emoticons | 5 3 TABLE. Emoticons used by students to express disgust and words that dislike them English-language emoticons emoticons (slang) (ENGLISH) Non-English-language emoticons Fu, fuu (195); fu as stink (8); fu (12); fuj, Omg (22); feh (2); fech (1) Russian word] (1) [I tell with empathy, can solve fui (88); fe And (5); ew (12); vek (1) Ups (1) [I usually use] after a hundred feces.. Hm (5) Drill (3); pff, pf, pfu (3); tfuuu, tfu (2) After analyzing the students’ answers, it is clear that most young people are quite bold in expressing their disgust at an unpleasant smell, but some remain more restrained and do not show the rising feeling: What an unpleasant smell! ; Depends on what kind of friend I am so I speak good if I smell I just wouldn't say anything; I'm not saying anything. Another situation – you are afraid. When describing it, the primary (non-derived) Lithuanian emotions, e.g.: a, ai, oi, o, predominate in the pupils’ answers (see table 4). Lithuanian secondary (derived) emoticons, such as o Dieve, o Viešpatie, o Jėzau, compete with the English abbreviation omg "Oh my God!" TABLE 4. Emoticons used by students to express fear and words that distract them Emoticons in Lithuanian Emoticons (slang, old words) (English) foreign Emoticons in other languages words, euphemisms) A (93) Omg (25) After a hundred blowjobs! (1) God (28) o Lord; o Jesus (10); o Jesus here Mary (1); o jesus marija and all O boze (2) holy with the most holy (1); my dear (1). Oi (28); oj (8); uoj (3) About kurmi (1) O, ooo (23) Ai (17); aj (1) Ak (11) BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Agnieszka Aleksa. Expression of feelings with emoticons in the language of pupils | 6 There is also another Lithuanian or Russian curse word and their milder variants – euphemisms, e.g., o kurmi2. It is true that some students emphasize that various non-verbal elements, i.e. facial expressions and gestures, help them to convey their fear. Only a few students indicate that they do not use verbal and non-verbal means of expression when afraid, they only state the fact of fear: And you scared me! ; Don't start; You idiot! The last situation presented to the students – you were very happy. Table 5 shows that the use of emoticons (Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian) is approximate, although in this situation students provide more and more diverse examples of non-Lithuanian emoticons. It can be assumed that young people, when communicating with friends, tend to express joy more often than anger, surprise, disgust or fear, which is why the expression of emotions is so diverse in this situation. In order to show great joy, to express satisfaction, pupils tend to pronounce the vowel or consonant of the emotion continuously, e.g.: jeeee, vuuuuuu, avvvv, etc. Emoticons used by students to express joy and words that reject them Lithuanian emoticons Non-Lithuanian emoticons (English) Emoticons rejecting words (slang) Valio (45) Yes (20); yey (12); yay (16); (3); yaaaaaaas (6) jay; eat; jejejejej (3); jes Force (15) Wow (22) Yeah, yeah (23); jė (19); yes (2); (1) yeee, jei (7); jes (2); jėėėj How cool (13) O (20) Vau (15); voucher; wow (5) incredible (2) Aaa (8) Omg (10) God (4) Oh, thank God! (1) Wuhu (2); vuhu (2); vūhū; woho, woohoo (4); wooo, woo woo, uhu (2); vava (2); vuuuuuu (1); twooo (1) Oh (4) Aww (4); avvvv... (1) The answers showed that only a few students would express their joy not by verbal means but by body language: I express my joy with body actions – I smile; I was jumping with happiness. The analyzed and summarized data on emoticons in students’ speech are presented in Table 6. 2 This emoticon is not random. Although not frequently, it is used in colloquial language and electronic communication. joje. BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Agnieszka Aleksa. Expression of emotions in students’ speech using emoticons | 7 6 TABLE. Relationship between Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian emoticons in students’ speech Eil. no. Situations Proportion of Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian emoticons (percentage) English Emoticons Non-English Emoticons 1. You tell me that you stumbled over your leg someone while walking and 67.5 32.5 caught 2. You were pleasantly surprised – you received an unexpected gift 67.9 32.1 3. You were disgusted by an unpleasant smell 99.4 0.6 4. You are frightened 90 10 5. You were very happy 38.7 61.3 Since the survey method was chosen for the study, it should be noted that these results show only a subjective picture of the pupils’ own monitoring of their language. The real situation of the use of emoticons would be more clear if an objective student language monitoring experiment (live student speech recorded) were carried out. However, the survey also shows certain tendencies of the current expressive oral language of pupils. CONCLUSIONS After analyzing the pupils’ answers about the expression of feelings by means of verbal expression, several conclusions can be drawn: 1. In the private language of pupils, Lithuanian and English emoticons are in sharp competition. 2. From the Lithuanian emoticons, students indicate the most commonly used primary (non-derived) emoticons. 3. Students tend to use the same emoticons to express quite different feelings – from anger to joy. 4.To express surprise, disgust and fear, the pupils indicate that they most often use Lithuanian emoticons, while both Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian emoticons are widely used to express anger and joy. Nevertheless, when expressing joy, students indicate that they use more and more diverse non-Lithuanian emoticons, so it can be said that the expression of this feeling in the language of the students is the most English. LITERATŪRA BŽ – Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas (rengiamas). Prieiga internete: http://bkz.lki.lt DLKG – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatika, red. V. Ambrazas. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2006. BENDRINĖ KALBA | 88 (2015) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 AGNĖ ALEKSAITĖ. Jausmų raiška jaustukais mokinių kalboje | 8 DŽ – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas (elektroninis variantas), red. S. Keinys , Vilnius: Lietuvių kal-, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2006. Prieiga internete: http://www.dz.lt L e k av i č i en ė R. ir kt. 2008: Psichologija šiandien. Kaunas: Technologija. LKŽ – Lietuvių kalbos žodynas 1–20 (elektroninis variantas), vyr. red. G. Naktinienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2005. Prieiga internete: http://www.lkz.lt ND – Lietuvių kalbos naujažodžių duomenynas. Internetinė duomenų bazė. Sudarė R. Miliūnaitė. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Prieiga internete: http://naujazodziai.lki.lt/. Sauciuc G. 2006: Borrowings – a source of innovation in the class of interjections. – Revue Roumaine de Linguistique 2, 267–300. Prieiga internete: http://www.lingv.ro/RRL%202%202006%20Sauciuc. pdf. Tossell Ch. C. 2012: A longitudinal study of emoticon use in text messaging from smartphones. – Computers in Human Behavior 28(2): 659–663. Va i c e k a u s k i e n ė L. 2007: Naujieji lietuvių kalbos svetimžodžiai. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Wolf A. 2000: Emotional expression online: gender differences in emoticon use. –CyberPsychology & Behavior 3(5): 827-833. Zabarskaitė J. 2009: Jaustukai kalboje ir šnekoje. – Kalbos kultūra 82, 91–109. Received 17 November 2015 Adopted on 28 December 2015