Exploring Cross-Cultural Equivalence of Emotion Concepts ENVY and NEID: A Corpus-Based Study

This study explores the cross-cultural equivalence of the emotion concepts (ECs) ESC1 ENVY and Germ.2 NEID through a corpus-based linguistic analysis. Because emotional concepts are shaped by cultural and linguistic contexts, this research investigates the degree of semantic overlap between these ECs. The study employs a comparative analysis of lexical collocations from two major language corpora – iWeb for English and DWDS Webkorpus for German. Findings reveal the fact that despite significant, yet not absolute, equivalence between ENVY and NEID, in the German-speaking community envy is perceived as a more negative and less intense emotional experience. In contrast, in English-speaking cultures, envy closely correlates with jealousy, therefore EC ENVY is somewhat more intense than NEID. Furthermore, the study identifies key conceptual proximates that shape the semantic structures of these emotions, highlighting cross-cultural differences in emotional perception. These findings contribute to intercultural communication research, providing insights into the complexities of translating emotion-related terms. Future research should further explore equivalences across additional languages and cultural contexts to refine cross-linguistic emotion mapping