Involvement with language and in language

Abstract In section 1, the ways in which people are involved with their own language are dealt with. The Prague School functional concept of ‘experiencing one's language’ (being a parallel to ‘involvement’) is presented, and the following points discussed: different attitudes of users toward language, characteristic features of their involvement with the text processes of speaking-writing and listening-reading, and the range of different experiential modes implied in the user's involvement. Section 2 is devoted to emotion as the most typical and natural manifestation of people's involvement in language. Emotion is treated as a specific dimension of the human mind and experience; its vast field is surveyed and contrasted with the dimension of cognition. The two dimensions (or, rather, aspects) are interwoven and mutually conditioned, both in our life and in linguistic expression. Further, the ways emotion enters discourse, and various types and means of its manifestation in communication are examined. Moreover, different functional positions of emotion in communication are discussed, and also a brief comparison of the emotional content of speech and music is sketched.