Attitude: Ways of Feeling

Abstract

In this chapter we outline a framework for mapping feelings as they are construed in English texts, referring to this system of meanings as attitude. This system involves three semantic regions covering what is traditionally referred to as emotion, ethics and aesthetics. Emotion is arguably at the heart of these regions since it is the expressive resource we are born with and embody physiologically from almost the moment of birth (Painter 2003). We will refer to this emotive dimension of meaning as affect.