Anna Ogarkova and Cristina Soriano 52 Anger from a language-based perspective 1 Introduction 2 Anger lexicons across languages 3 Aspects of variation in anger semantics 4 Conclusions and further research 5 References Abstract: Psychology studies prioritize a broad understanding of anger as a prototypically negative and confrontational emotion triggered by an offense against the self or relevant others, typically leading to the experiencer’s loss of control and (impulse for) retribution. However, this generalization overlooks the rich variability of anger concepts available in different languages and disregards salient aspects of both within- and cross-cultural varia- tion in anger experiences. This chapter seeks to demonstrate that language-based ap- proaches are well-suited to capture this variation. To this end, after a succinct discussion of the ubiquity of the anger lexicon across languages, we systematically review aspects relevant for the differentiation of anger terms within and across languages. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the utility of language-based research for psychological expert theories of emotion and with an argument for both multi-methodological and inter- disciplinary synergies in future research. 1 Introduction Anger is a widely and extensively investigated emotion that has spurred extensive litera- tures across a variety of disciplines. In psychology, stemming from an almost century-long theorizing and debate (see Russell and Fehr [1994], van Brakel [1993] for reviews), anger has come to be generally defined as a negative, high-arousal, and powerful confrontational emotion triggered by a demeaning offense against the self or relevant others, typically leading to the experiencer’s loss of control and (impulse for) retribution (e.g., Lazarus 1991; Scherer, Summerfield, and Wallbott 1983). Under this broad definition, anger is deemed a “basic” (Ekman 1999; Ortony and Turner 1990) or “modal” emotion (Scherer 2005) that has emerged in all human societies in response to the obstruction of pertinent goals or needs. However, while useful for operationalization in empirical research, this general defini- tion overlooks the rich variability of anger concepts observed in different languages and disregards salient aspects of both inter- and intra-cultural variation in the ways anger is conceptualized. Cross-culturally, two major dimensions are implied in how anger is experi- enced in different communities. These dimensions originate from studies of business cul- Anna Ogarkova, Geneva, Switzerland Cristina Soriano, Geneva, Switzerland https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110670851-020