ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews how emotion has figured in the research on language and cultural transformation, represented in terms of three broad perspectives. In the first, linguistic difference in the context of cultural change is approached as a site for emotion, foregrounding the notion of indexicality. In the second, emotion is emphasized as a key condition for constituting a new sense of self, highlighting the reflexivity of language. In the third, emotion is seen as a crucial element for transforming relations of power, an aspect of performativity. Together, these perspectives offer challenging questions about the nature of language and cultural transformation.
