Table 6 lists the number of representative emotion words for each emotion type (excluding other emotions and unfamiliar; Table 7) in each region.
Table 6 also shows that altogether 90 representative emotion words were shared by all three areas, which can be considered as the core emotion lexicon in Chinese.
Comparing across regions, the MC dataset has the largest representative emotion lexicon (N = 163), followed by HK (N = 145), and SG (N = 107).
The main results of the study were a list of highly representative emotion words of each emotion type, which elicited a consensus of judgment from the participants, and a list of complex emotion words, which received mixed judgment.
Furthermore, representative emotion words (excluding other emotions and unfamiliar) received on average higher intensity ratings compared to blended emotion words, and the trend was significant in all three regions (p < .001 in all t tests).
Secondly, among the shared words considered as basic emotion words on Lee's list (N = 141), less than 75%% of were also classified as representative emotion words in the current study (105 in MC, 90 in HK, 72 in SG).
Open image in new window Fig. 1 Mean percentage of raters who selected positive, negative, and neutral valence categories for representative emotion words by primary emotion type and rater region.
Following Strauss and Allen's study, words whose primary emotion type was voted by no less than 70%% of the survey participants were defined as representative emotion words, whereas words whose primary emotion type was voted by less than 70%% of the survey participants were defined as blended emotion words.
Table 6 Number of representative emotion words in all regions Region Emotion type MC HK SG Shared by all regions anger 8 11 7 7 anxiety 23 14 13 9 disgust 19 13 10 8 fear 8 8 6 5 happiness 57 49 33 32 sadness 33362621 21 surprise 13 9 8 7 neutral 2 5 4 1 Total 163 145 107 90 Table 7 Mean intensity of representative and blended words across regions.
When appropriate, appeal to representatives' emotions, especially if the event's goal is to raise funds for a charitable cause.
