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Congrats to our LT CityUHK faculty, Prof. Chaouch-Orozco Adel and his collaborators, Xiyuan Li (University College London) and Ping Li (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology). Their article, named "Cultural attitudes towards the future shape the semantic structure of emotion concepts," has been published on Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
Citation and link
Chaouch-Orozco, A., Li, X. & Li, P. Cultural attitudes towards the future shape the semantic structure of emotion concepts. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 13, 387 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06623-3
Abstract
What is the role of culture in how we understand and categorize emotions? This study takes a novel approach to address this long-debated issue by investigating whether specific cultural dimensions influence emotion conceptualization across languages. Native speakers of 15 languages completed a spatial arrangement task, grouping emotion concepts based on perceived semantic similarities. This generated language-specific emotion semantic spaces, which were then compared across languages. Our analysis reveals a strong correlation between semantic space variation and cultural factors, particularly long-term orientation (i.e., societal attitudes towards the future). Crucially, these results are independent of language family and do not strictly follow an East-West cultural divide. This study is the first to directly link specific cultural dimensions to the organization of emotion semantic spaces, providing evidence for the specific mechanisms through which culture shapes emotion conceptualization, and opening new avenues for understanding the complex interplay between culture, language, and emotion.
Contribution
Using a spatial arrangement task across 15 languages, the study identifies long-term orientation—societies' future-versus-present focus—as the cultural dimension most strongly shaping how emotion concepts are semantically organized. The effect holds independently of language family, script, religion, and East-West geography, with negative emotions most affected.
Citation and link
Chaouch-Orozco, A., Li, X. & Li, P. Cultural attitudes towards the future shape the semantic structure of emotion concepts. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 13, 387 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06623-3
Abstract
What is the role of culture in how we understand and categorize emotions? This study takes a novel approach to address this long-debated issue by investigating whether specific cultural dimensions influence emotion conceptualization across languages. Native speakers of 15 languages completed a spatial arrangement task, grouping emotion concepts based on perceived semantic similarities. This generated language-specific emotion semantic spaces, which were then compared across languages. Our analysis reveals a strong correlation between semantic space variation and cultural factors, particularly long-term orientation (i.e., societal attitudes towards the future). Crucially, these results are independent of language family and do not strictly follow an East-West cultural divide. This study is the first to directly link specific cultural dimensions to the organization of emotion semantic spaces, providing evidence for the specific mechanisms through which culture shapes emotion conceptualization, and opening new avenues for understanding the complex interplay between culture, language, and emotion.
Contribution
Using a spatial arrangement task across 15 languages, the study identifies long-term orientation—societies' future-versus-present focus—as the cultural dimension most strongly shaping how emotion concepts are semantically organized. The effect holds independently of language family, script, religion, and East-West geography, with negative emotions most affected.