IDEALIZED COGNITIVE MODELS OF HAPPINESS AND SADNESS IN THAI: A COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS APPROACH

Abstract

This study presents a systematic investigation of the Idealized Cognitive Models (ICMs) of happiness and sadness in Thai and contributes to research in Cognitive Linguistics. It examines how these emotions are conceptualized through ICMs in literary works that received the Southeast Asian Writers Award (S.E.A. Write Award). The data were collected from award-winning literary works published between 1979 and 2023. The analysis is based on the framework of Cognitive Linguistics, particularly the theory of Idealized Cognitive Models and cognitive approaches to emotion. Conceptualizations of happiness and sadness provide a basis for classifying ICMs among Thai language users into five models: bodily state; fluid; natural phenomenon; possession; and orientation. Overall, this study provides linguistic evidence of how cognitive systems construct emotional concepts in Thai. It also sheds light on the conceptual structures and cultural knowledge reflected through propositional structures, image schemas, metaphorical mappings, and metonymic mappings in Thai.

Keywords: Idealized Cognitive Models, Happiness, Sadness, Language and culture