Emotions in the language of public men

Abstract

In selected alternative Slovak media, symptomatic emotional-expressive lexemes were identified in public written speeches by five politically active Slovak men. These speeches exhibit characteristic emotional-expressive styles that both reveal the speakers’ own emotions and seek to influence the emotional responses of their intended audiences. The lexemes serve as markers of evaluative relationships linked to the perception and interpretation of specific events. Positive and negative emotional evaluations are often intertwined with intellectual evaluative components, reflecting the speakers’ cognitive and psychological engagement. A combined linguistic and content analysis was conducted on selected texts published in 2022. The alternative monthly Extraplus, in particular, provides space for emotionally charged and argumentative contributions, which frequently include manipulative or conspiratorial content. The study focuses on identifying emotionality in language through symptomatic emotional-expressive lexemes, which manifest in figurative and indirect expressions, idioms, as well as ironic and sarcastic constructions.