Emowordism: A Tactile Framework for Emotion and emoword(emotional word)

Author: Young Jun Kwon (Independent Researcher)

This paper proposes a novel theoretical framework called “Emowordism”, which conceptualizes human emotions as the brain’s symbolic representations of complex tactile sensations. Moving beyond the classical dichotomy of cognitive and affective neuroscience, Emowordism repositions emotion as a multimodal synthesis rooted in tactile perception—such as temperature, texture, pressure, motion, and fullness. These dimensions form the base from which emotional states are cognitively internalized and linguistically represented.

We argue that these tactile categories are foundational to the semantic construction of emotion words in natural languages. The theory draws from neuroscience, psycholinguistics, somatic psychology, and language philosophy. We further hypothesize that emotional healing, artistic expression, and communication can be optimized through a tactile-emotional realignment, opening new avenues for affective computing, AI empathy modeling, and human-centered design.

To illustrate the underlying process, we propose a neurocognitive flow of emotional generation and symbolization: from external events, the brain performs multisensory integration, responds through somatosensory (tactile) channels, activates emotional states, and converts these into symbolic constructs via language circuits. This sequence culminates in the verbal expression of emotion words—emerging not from abstraction, but from embodied perception.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The Need for a Tactile Model of Emotion
2. Historical Context: From Basic Emotions to Embodied Cognition
3. Core Dimensions of Tactile Perception
4. The Emowordism Hypothesis
5. Emotional Symbolization through Tactile Synthesis
6. Applications: Healing, AI, and Human-Centered Design
7. Discussion and Future Research Directions
8. References

Keywords for indexing purposes only

Emowordism, Tactile Emotion, Somatic Semantics, Emotional Design, Affective Computing, Symbolic Cognition, Emotion Interface