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In:Surprise at the Intersection of Phenomenology and Linguistics
Edited by Natalie Depraz and Agnès Celle
[Consciousness & Emotion Book Series 11] 2019
► pp. 91–114

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Chapter 6
Surprise in native, bilingual and non-native spontaneous and stimulated recall speech

 | Université de Paris, CLILLAC-ARP
Published online: 6 November 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ceb.11.06gou
Abstract
This article discusses surprise markers in a spoken corpus of reactions to works-of-art and of retrospective interviews with forty English and French natives, bilinguals and learners of English. Following Reisenzein (2000), the study posits a three-phase psycholinguistic scenario: disruption of representations, reaction and rationalizing. In this model, cognitive discrepancy results from the interaction between the properties of the aesthetic source and the subject’s sociocultural representations and memories. Few neutral surprise episodes were identified and discourse was usually marked by intensity and emotion, supporting the hypothesis that surprise is both a triggering mechanism and a component of emotion. The analysis reveals the richness of the network of surprise markers. Work-in-progress indicates that the range of surprise-related linguistic markers elicited by aesthetic objects partly depends on linguistic status (native, bilingual and non-native) and idiomatic proficiency.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Surprise: An emotional or a cognitive state?
  • 3.Experimental research
    • 3.1Working hypotheses
    • 3.2Experimental protocol
  • 4.Psycholinguistic scenario of surprise: Results of the experiment
    • 4.1A model of surprise processing: From disruption to repair
    • 4.2Interpreting surprise scenarios: Invariants and variations
  • 5.Disrupting artistic expectations
    • 5.1General beliefs
    • 5.2Deliberately-induced surprise
  • 6.Emotional components of the surprise experience
  • 7.The metaphorical expression of surprise
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Software programs for transcription and analysis
  • Works of art
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Vidal Noguera, Carmen & Irini Mavrou
2024. ‘A surprise I will never forget’: How do adolescent Spanish-German heritage speakers express the emotion of surprise in both their heritage language and the societal language?. International Journal of Bilingualism DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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