ABSTRACT
If one is to establish a basis for the notion that language has inherently affective features—that is, its emotional base is as essential to its nature as its cognitive base—there are a myriad of possibilities that present themselves as areas that might be investigated. One might begin, for instance, with the rhetorical power of language and its ability to sway those exposed to it; one might also examine (as we later will) poetic expression and the emotive power it carries with it. However, clearly the most firm foundation on which to build a model of how language reveals affective features would be to examine the origins of language itself. But several problems present themselves.
