Solo publication of Domicele Jonauskaite in a Lithuanian journal Psichologija

Lithuanian Conceptual Colour-Emotion Associations in the Global Context of 37 Nations

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The very first solo publication of Domicele Jonauskaite, a member of our team, has appeared recently in the Lithuanian journal Psichologija.

We often use colours to metaphorically speak about our feelings or to describe situations in life. Lithuanians work blackly (juodai dirbti; i.e., work hard), do not want to be a white crow (balta varna; i.e., an ugly duckling) or fear for black days (juoda diena). What is rare for other languages, Lithuanian speakers also use different colours to talk about different levels of emotion. Specifically, they use colours to talk about different degrees of anger: white for mild irritation, then going through red, blue and finally using black to express a full-blown rage (pabalęs/įraudęs/pamėlęs/pajuodęs iš pykčio).

In her article, Domicele presents the results of the analysis of colour-emotion associations for Lithuanians, as compared to the neighboring countries, and to countries geographically and linguistically further away from Lithuania.

Read the full article here to find out about the bigger context, method and the results of this compelling inquiry!