Emotivity, expressiveness and evaluativeness: a contemporary understanding of the relationship between these categories

Abstract

In contemporary linguistics, emotivity, expressiveness, and evaluativeness are viewed as interrelated but non-identical characteristics of linguistic semantics and communicative functioning. Their relationship cannot be reduced to a simple division of meaning into separate independent components, since in actual speech emotional response, value-based attitude, and intensity of expression are often formed simultaneously. Thus, emotivity, expressiveness, and evaluativeness should be treated as interrelated but functionally differentiated parameters of linguistic organization. Emotivity represents emotional attitude or experience, evaluativeness structures the axiological qualification of an object, and expressiveness ensures the enhancement and intensification of a communicative message. In particular discourse, they may produce a complex syncretic effect; nevertheless, distinguishing them remains a necessary condition for an accurate semantic description. This approach opens opportunities for further research into emotional and evaluative vocabulary, media and literary discourse, and the dynamics of meaning in contemporary Ukrainian.