Linguocultural Interpretation of Single-Component Textual Emotives (Based on the Novel “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon)

Abstract

Literary texts provide a productive framework for examining how emotional meanings intertwine with collective memory, social values, and culturally specific knowledge. Historical fiction is particularly valuable in this respect, as it preserves linguistic representations of a community’s worldview and identity. Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander”, set in eighteenth-century Scotland, offers rich material for such analysis due to its extensive use of culturally marked vocabulary associated with Scottish traditions, social structures, and historical experience. Although textual emotivity has attracted considerable scholarly attention, linguocultural textual emotives and their role in conveying culture-specific meanings remain underexplored. In particular, scholars have not yet systematically examined one-component textual emotives from a linguocultural perspective. The present study aims to identify and interpret one-component textual emotives in the novel “Outlander”. The study draws on the text of the Diana Gabaldon’s novel “Outlander” (1991). The analysis combines continuous sampling with contextual, semantic, and linguocultural approaches, as well as a comparison of dictionary definitions and context-dependent meanings. The findings reveal and systematize a group of one-component linguocultural textual emotives. The analysis demonstrates that units such as Sassenach, Highlander, Beltane, and Hogmanay encode not only emotional evaluation but also information about interethnic relations, traditional celebrations, social organization, and the value system of eighteenth-century Scottish society. The study proposes a structural typology of linguocultural textual emotives, comprising one-component, two-component, and complex units. The study contributes to the development of linguocultural approaches to literary discourse by demonstrating how emotives function as markers of both emotional meaning and cultural knowledge.