Ontological Approach to Aesthetic Feelings:A Multilingual Case of Cutism

摘要

This paper outlines how the Sensibility-Aesthetics Ontology project aims to construct a comprehensive knowledge-base of sensibility-aesthetics related concepts. The target of the current paper is to examine 'kawaii' (cutism) in Japanese and Chinese culture. Using a combination of four methodologies (meta-analysis of dictionary definitions, quantitative analysis of linguistic usage, content analysis of voluntarily produced text containing the target concept, and structured interviews concerning the cognitive components of the target concept), cognitive components of the concept were formalized into a frame structure. The typical frame for Japanese cutism is: experiencer - mother, female, male; user - female; appraisal - small, weak; object - girl, baby, infant, pet, everyday things, animal, plant; subjective experience - attachment, charmed; action inclination - protect, possess, emotion share, conceal. Chinese cutism has similar framing terms although the 'object' component has far fewer variants than Japanese. As an application of the constructed cutism ontology, an analysis of the cutism words used in the novels of Haruki Murakami was discussed.