”Sijoittajan päässä taistelevat ahneus ja pelko” : Diskurssianalyyttinen lähestymistapa tunnekielen merkitysten tulkintaan

This study introduces a methodological approach for analysing emotion language, combining corpus-assisted discourse analysis, using semantic annotation, with qualitative analysis of discursive meanings. For the purposes of qualitative analysis, we construct a theoretical-methodological framework for examining the semantic dimensions of emotion language. This framework distinguishes between core, extended, and evaluative meanings. Semantic annotation helps to locate emotional language in large datasets, enables quantitative insights, and enhances the coverage and systematicity of discourse analysis. The framework developed for qualitative analysis helps to identify and distinguish between different types of meanings that emotion vocabulary can bring to discourse. The two parts of the approach could also be used independently. We therefore find this a fruitful approach for examining how emotions are constructed and used discursively. We illustrate the methodological approach by analysing emotion language in a corpus of Finnish news media texts that mention investing and investors (2015–2023; 3 million words). In doing so, this study also contributes to understanding how emotion language in news media texts about investors functions within the broader development of financialisation and the construction of neoliberal investor subjects.