Dr. Cristina Soriano
Education and Training
Directory details
E-mail
Institution : University of Geneva
Department : Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (CISA)
Research field : Language of emotion, semantics, lexicon, metaphor, culture, psycholinguistics
General Information
I obtained my PhD in Linguistics from the University of Murcia and specialized in cognitive linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley and Hamburg University. After teaching linguistics and translation, I joined the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, where I work as senior researcher on language and emotion and as head of the Education and Training program.
I conduct interdisciplinary research on the meaning of emotion terms across languages and cultures, conceptual metaphor, and the role of emotion in color and time perception. I am also interested in the psycholinguistic investigation of conceptual metaphors (CMT). I am the executive officer of the GRID project and am involved in other studies on the linguistic representation of emotions, especially anger, shame and guilt.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9274-8574
Note
2010 - present
- Senior researcher, Focus Group "Language and Culture", Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva.
- Head of the Education and Training (E&T) program. Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva.
2007 - 2010
- Junior researcher, NCCR Affective Sciences, University of Geneva (Switzerland)
2005-2007
- Assistant lecturer, English Philology Department, University of Murcia (Spain)
2000-2005
- PhD Linguistics (european doctorate), University of Murcia (Spain)
- Visiting scholar, University of California - Berkeley (USA)
- Visiting scholar, University of Hamburg (Germany)
1999-2001
- English teacher, Public School Herma (Murcia, Spain)
- Teaching diploma, University of Murcia (Spain)
1994-1999
- MA English Philology, University of Murcia (Spain)
Current Research
Books
Fontaine, J., Scherer, K. R. & Soriano, C (Eds.) (2013). Components of Emotional Meaning: A Sourcebook. Oxford: Oxford University Press [see book in Publisher's page] ►► [check out the BLOG entry]
Valenzuela, J., Rojo, A. & Soriano, C. (Eds) (2009). Trends in Cognitive Linguistics: Theoretical and Applied Models, Frankfurt: Peter Lang. [see book in Publisher's page]
Articles
Ogarkova, A., Soriano, C. & Gladkova, A. (2018). Methodological triangulation in the study of emotion. The case of ‘anger’ in three language groups. In Ana María Piquer-Píriz and Rafael Alejo-González (Eds.), Applying Cognitive Linguistics. Figurative language in use, constructions and typology (pp. 73-100). Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Fontaine, J. R. J., Scherer. K. R. & Soriano, C. (2013). A paradigm for a multidisciplinary investigation of the meaning of emotion terms.In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer & C. Soriano (eds). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 1-4) Oxford: Oxford University Press
Scherer, K. R., Fontaine, J.R.J. & Soriano, C. (2013a). CoreGRID and MiniGRID: Development and validation of two short versions of the GRID instrument. In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer & C. Soriano (eds). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 523-541). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Scherer, K. R., Fontaine, J.R.J. & Soriano, C. (2013b). Promises delivered, future opportunities and challenges for the GRID paradigm. In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer & C. Soriano (eds). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 542-559). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Scherer, K. R., Shuman, V., Fontaine, J.R.J. & Soriano, C. (2013). The GRID meets the Wheel: Assessing emotional feeling via self-report. In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer & C. Soriano (eds). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 281-298). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Soriano C. (2013a) Conceptual metaphor theory and the GRID paradigm in the study of anger in English and Spanish. In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer & C. Soriano (eds). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 410-424). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Soriano C. (2013b) Linguistic theories of lexical meaning. In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer & C. Soriano (eds). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 63-79). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Soriano, C., Fontaine, J. R. J., Ogarkova, A., Mejía, C., Volkova, Y., Ionova S. & Shakhovskyy, V. (2013). Types of anger in Spanish and Russian. In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer & C. Soriano (eds). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 339-352). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ogarkova, A, Soriano, C & Lehr, C. (2012). Naming feeling: Exploring the equivalence of emotion terms in five European languages. In Wilson, P. A. (ed.) Dynamicity in Emotion Concepts (pp. 253-284) (Lodz Studies in Language, vol 27).Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Soriano C. (2012) La metáfora conceptual. In Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Iraide & Javier Valenzuela (eds.). Lingüística Cognitiva (pp 97-121). Barcelona: Anthropos.
Ogarkova, A., Soriano, C., & C. Lehr (2010). Cultural specificity in labeling emotional scenarios: a case study of ANGER, SHAME, GUILT, and PRIDE in five European languages. In V.I. Shakhovskyy (Ed.) Human communication: motives, strategies, tactics (pp. 71-84). Volgograd: Peremena.
Soriano, C. & Ogarkova, A. (2009). Linguistics and emotion. In Sander, David & Klaus R. Scherer (eds.). Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences (pp. 240-242). Oxford University Press.
Soriano, C. & Valenzuela, J. (2009a). Are conceptual metaphors accessible online? A psycholinguistic exploration of the CONTROL IS UP metaphor. In Valenzuela, J, Rojo, A. & Soriano, C. (eds), Trends in Cognitive Linguistics: Theoretical and Applied Models (pp. 29-49). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Soriano, C & Valenzuela, J (2009b). Emotion and colour across languages: Implicit associations in Spanish colour terms. Social Science Information 48(3): 421-445.
Valenzuela, J. & Soriano, C. (2007b). Reading anger stories: A lexical decision task as a test for the existence of metaphorical representation. In Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., Inchaurralde, C. & Sánchez, J. (eds), Language, Mind and the Lexicon (pp. 281-303). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Valenzuela, J. & Soriano, C. (2005). Cognitive metaphor and empirical methods. Barcelona English Language and Literature Studies (BELLS), 14: 1-19.
Barcelona, A. & Soriano, C. (2004). Metaphorical conceptualization in English and Spanish. European Journal of English Studies (EJES), 8-3: 295-308.
Soriano, C. (2003). Some anger metaphors in Spanish and English. A contrastive review. Contrastive Cognitive Linguistics, monograph issue of the International Journal of English Studies (IJES), 3-2: 107-122
Soriano, C. (2002). Metáforas y metonimias cognitivas en la conceptualización de la ira. Estudio contrastivo inglés-español. Interlingüística, 13-3: 391-401.
Talks
* Invited lecture
Soriano, C. (2024). Frustration: A language-specific concept?. International conference ISRE 2024. Queen's University Belfast, Belfast (Ireland), July 17 – 20.
* Soriano, C. (2021). "El lenguaje emocional y el lenguaje sobre las emociones: perspectivas interculturales". Invited keynote lecture. Jornada Internacional de Lengua, Emoción e Identidad. Universidad de Alcalá (Spain), September 17.
* Soriano, C. (2021). Cross-cultural emotion conceptualization: Methods for the study of literal and figurative language. Invited keynote lecture. Conference "Language, Semantics and Cognition: Saying and conceptualizing the world from Ancient Egypt to Modern Times". Yale University (USA), April 17. View lecure here
Lagier, S. & Soriano, C. (2020). The metaphor factory. Workshop for CUSO - Programme Transversal de Développement des Compétences Génériques. September 1.
* Soriano, C. (2020). El estudio de las emociones a través de sus nombres en distintas lenguas y culturas. Invited lecture. Universidad Nebrija, Madrid (Spain), June 12.
* Soriano, C. (2019). Affective meaning in language. Invited lecture. Sympoisum “Emotion, Expression, and Language”. University of Geneva, Geneva (Switzerland), November 4.
* Soriano, C. (2019). Metaphor and Emotion. A cross-disciplinary dialog in the Affective Sciences. Invited plenary lecture. Conference “Metaphor Studies at the Intersection of Multiple Disciplines”. Liège (Belgium), May 16-17.
Soriano, C. & Piata, A. (2018). Valence or power? A corpus study on the affect bias in time conceptualization. 11th International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Linguistics Association (AELCO). Córdoba (Spain), October 17-19.
Lagier, S., LeBoeuf, A. & Soriano, C. (2018). The metaphor factory. Workshop at Ecsite Annual Conference 2018. Geneva, June 7-9.
* Soriano, C. (2018). El lenguaje de las emociones. Invited lecture. XIII Seminario Internacional de Lengua y Periodismo “El lenguaje en la era de la post-verdad”. San Millán de la Cogolla (Spain), May 29-30. [video]
* Soriano, C. (2018). Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of emotion, metaphor and identity. Invited lecture. International Workshop "Metaphor, Emotions, and Identity". Pamplona (Spain), February 16-17. [interview1] [interview2]
Piata, A. & Soriano, C. (2017). “That Time will come and take my love away": Time and affective valence in language and literature. 14th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC). Tartu (Estonia), July 10-14.
Piata, A. & Soriano, C. (2017). “Spatial representations of time and emotion: Evidence on mental imagery from the PoetiCog literary database”. International Conference on Multimodal Communication: Developing New Theories and Methods. Osnabrück (Germany), June 9-11.
Soriano, C., Gillioz, C., Fontaine, J. & Scherer, K. (2017). Linguistics and emotion words: The meaning of nouns and adjectives. Symposium “Emotion process competence: Integrating multidisciplinary approaches”. International Convention of Psychological Science (ICPS). Vienna (Austria), March 23-25.
* Soriano, C. (2016). Emotion language and emotion conceptualization. Invited lecture. Workshop "Language and Emotion". University of Fribourg, Fribourg (Switzerland), December 1-2.
* Soriano, C. (2016). La categorización de las emociones en distintas lenguas. Invited talk. VIII International Congress of Hispanic Linguistics. Leipzig (Germany), September 26-29
Soriano, C. & Ogarkova, A. (2015). "The meaning of "frustration" across languages". International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE 2015). Geneva (Swizerland), July 8-10. [abstract]
Ogarkova, A. & Soriano, C. (2015). "Metaphorical profiles of ANGER nouns in three languages: Converging evidence with cross-cultural emotion psychology". International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE 2015). Geneva (Swizerland), July 8-10. [abstract]
Soriano, C. & Ogarkova, A. (2014). "Triangulating results from CMT and emotion psychology". IX International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Linguistics Association (AELCO). "Applied Cognitive Linguistics: New Challenges". Badajoz (Spain), October 15-18.
* Soriano, C., Fontaine, J. & Scherer. K. (2014). "Surprise in the GRID". Invited talk at the International Symposium "Describing and Expressing Surprise". Paris (France), October 10.
Soriano, C. (2014). "Conceptual metaphors and the GRID paradigm. A case study on ‘anger’ in English and Spanish". Conosortium of European Research on Emotion (CERE). Berlin (Germany), March 27-28.
* Soriano, C. (2013). "Las emociones y sus nombres. Un estudio interdisciplinar". Invited lecture. Linguistics Department, University of Zaragoza. Zaragoza (Spain), October 23. [announcing poster] [review] [video]
Soriano, C. (2013). "Applications of the GRID paradigm in linguistic inquiry". International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE 2013). Berkeley (USA), August 2-6.
Ogarkova, A,. & Soriano, C. (2013). "Metaphor in emotion concepts: Experimental testing of corpora evidence". Workshop "Emotions in Language, Culture, Cognition", International Congress of Linguistics. Geneva (Switzerland), July 22-27.
Alonso-Arbiol, I., Soriano, C., & Van De Vijver, F. J. R. (2013). "The Conceptualization of despair in Basque, Spanish, and English using the GRID instrument". XII European Conference on Psychological Assessment (ECPA12). San Sebastián (Spain), July 17-20.
* Soriano, C. & Schnall, S. (2013). “Morality, moral emotions, and metaphor”. Workshop at the International Summer School in Affective Sciences (ISSAS 2013), on "Emotion, Morality and Value". Château de Bossey, Celigny (Switzerland), July 7.
Soriano, C. & Valenzuela, J. (2013). "Dimensional congruence and colour-emotion associations in Spanish". XII International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC). Alberta (Canada), June 23-28.
* Ogarkova, A. & Soriano, C. (2013). "Voices and Sounds in Emotion Metaphor: Insights from the Metaphorical Profile Approach". Workshop "Gods and Performers: The Affective Semantics of Voices and Sounds". Geneva (Switzerland), May 29.
Ogarkova, A. & Soriano, C. (2013). "Across disciplinary boundaries: Feature-based and metaphorical profiling methods in the comparative study of ANGER conceptualization". Specialized workshop of the International Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM) "Metaphor, Metonymy and Emotions". Poznan (Poland): May 2-3.
Soriano, C. (2013). "Cross-disciplinary communication in the study of emotion concepts: semantic foci as tertium comparationis for observed and elicited data". Specialized workshop of the International Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM) "Metaphor, Metonymy and Emotions". Poznan (Poland): May 2-3.
Ogarkova, A. & Soriano, C. (2013). "Emotion and the body: a corpus-driven investigation of metaphorical containers of anger across languages". SAUTE 2013. Lausanne (Switzerland): April 19-20.
Ogarkova, A., Soriano, C. (2012). "Triangulating cognitive and psycholinguistic approaches in cross-cultural research on emotion conceptualization". V International Conference of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association. Freiburg, October 10-12.
Soriano, C & Ogarkova, A (2012). "ANGER revisited: Cross-linguistic corpus evidence for a new model". UK-CLC4. London (UK), July 10-12.
Ogarkova, A & Soriano, C (2012). "What metaphorical profiles of emotion nouns can tell us about emotions: converging evidence with (cross cultural) emotion psychology". UK-CLC4. London (UK), July 10-12.
* Soriano, C (2012). "Conceptual integration, metaphor and emotion". Guest speaker at the workshop "Rethinking Metaphor: Conceptual Integration and Empirical Methods". Murcia (Spain), May 10-12.
* Soriano, C (2012). "Interdisciplinary approaches in the study of emotion concepts". Invited talk. Centre for Languages and Literature. Lund University (Sweden), April 4.
Soriano, C. & Ogarkova, A. (2012). ""Frustration" in Europe: Cultural specificity in the meaning of emotion cognates". 35th International LAUD Symposium (Cognitive Psycholinguistics: Bilingualism, Cognition and Communication). Landau (Germany), March 26-29.
Ogarkova, A. & Soriano, C. (2012). Conceptual metaphor in the study of emotion: method and applications. Workshop "Emotion and metaphor, ancient and modern: Interdisciplinary perspectives". Geneva (Switzerland), March 14.
* Sacharin, V., Soriano, C. & Ferdenzi, C. (2011). "Linguistic approaches to measure emotion and subjective experience". Workshop held at the International Summer School in Affective Sciences (ISSAS 2011). Céligny, Switzerland, 25 Aug 2011.
Soriano, C., Ogarkova, A, & Lehr (C.) (2010). "Different ways of being angry. Intracategorial variation in the metaphorical conceptualization of emotion". VII International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Lingusitics Association (AELCO/ SCOLA): "Figuring the World". Almagro (Spain), September 30 - October 2.
Soriano, C., & Valenzuela, J. (2010). "Interdisciplinary approaches in the study of emotion concepts: Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the GRID approach". VII International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Lingusitics Association (AELCO/ SCOLA): "Figuring the World". Almagro (Spain), September 30 - October 2.
Soriano, C., Ogarkova, A. & Lehr, C. (2010). "Types of anger and their metaphors. MPA in English, German, Spanish and Russian". RaAM 8: "Metaphors and Domains of discourse". Amsterdam (Netherlands), June 30 - July 3.
Soriano, C. (2010). "Lectal variation in the conceptualization of anger in Spanish". 34th LAUD Symposium: "Cognitive Sociolinguistics". Landau (Germany), March 15-18.
Soriano, C. & Ogarkova, A. (2009). "Linguistic approaches to the meaning of emotion terms: Relationships to the GRID componential approach". Symposium "Language and Emotion: Cross-Cultural Approaches to Emotion Words", Conference of the International Society for the Research on Emotion (ISRE). Leuven (Belgium), August 6-8.
Ogarkova, A., Soriano, C. & Lehr, C. (2009). "Cultural differences in labeling conflict emotions". International conference of the International Society for Language Studies (ISLS). Orlando (Florida, USA), June 11-13.
Ogarkova, A., Soriano, C. & Lehr, C. (2009). "The mapping method in establishing (translation) equivalence: A case study of conflict emotions in 5 European languages". Workshop "Emotions in Translation: Lost or Found?". Centre Interfacultaire en Sciences Affectives (CISA), Université de Genéve (Switzerland), May, 6.
Valenzuela, J. & Soriano, C. (2009). "¿Importa el tamaño? Sobre la relación metafórica entre el dominio subjetivo de la importancia y el dominio físico del tamaño". IX Simposio de Psicolingüística. University of Santiago (Spain), April 23-25.
Valenzuela, J. & Soriano, C. (2008). “Is "friendship" more important than "money"? A psycholinguistic exploration of the IMPORTANT IS BIG primary metaphor. ”. VI International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Lingusitics Association (AELCO/SCOLA). University of Castellón, Spain), October, 22–24.
Soriano, C. & Valenzuela, V. (2008). “Looking at emotion metaphors with experimental methods”. Interdisciplinary Workshop "Metaphor and Emotion: Theory, Practice and Experiment". Centre Interfacultaire en Sciences Affectives (CISA), Université de Genéve (Switzerland), September, 18-19.
Valenzuela, J. & Soriano, C. (2008). “Sensorial perception as a source domain: A cross-linguistic study”. VII International Conference on Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM 7), University of Extremadura, Cáceres (Spain), May 29-31.
Valenzuela, J. & Soriano, C. (2007). “Are conceptual metaphors accessible online? A psycholinguistic exploration of the CONTROL IS UP metaphor”. X International Cognitive Lingusitics Conference (ICLC 2007). Krakow (Poland) July 15-20.
Soriano, C. & Valenzuela, J. (2006). “Is CONTROL really UP? An experimental investigation”. V International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Lingusitics Association (AELCO/SCOLA). Murcia (Spain) October 19-21.
Keinänen, Nely & Soriano, C (2006). Seminar "Emotion, Language and Literature", August 29. VIII Conference of the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE-8). London (UK) 2006. 29 August - 2 September.
* Soriano, C. (2006). “‘On a short fuse’. The metaphorical conceptualization of anger across cultures”. Invited talk at the XI Curso de Lengua Extranjera, Sociedad y Cultura. Murcia (Spain), March, 16.
Soriano, C. (2005). “‘You are swelling me’. Linguistic and psycholinguistic approaches to the study of anger in Spanish and English”. 6th Researching and Applying Metaphor Conference (RaAM6). Leeds (UK), April 10–12.
Soriano, C. (2005). “Replicability, representativeness and generalizability in metaphor studies”. New Directions in Cognitive Lingusitics Conference (NDCG). Brighton (UK), October 23-25.
Soriano, C. & Valenzuela, J. (2004). “A picture-word priming task as a test for the existence of conceptual metaphor”. IV International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Lingusitics Association (AELCO/ SCOLA). Zaragoza (Spain), May 13-15.
Soriano, C. (2003). “Conceptual metaphors and metonymies of anger in Spanish and English”. VIII International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC 2003). Logroño (Spain), July 20-25.
Soriano, C. (2003). “Empirical methods in cognitive metaphor research”. I Empirical Methods in Cognitive Linguistics Workshop at Cornell University, Ithaca (USA), May 2-4
Soriano, C. & Cantos, P. (2002). “Una aproximación estadística al dominio de la ira”. III International Conference of the Spanish Cognitive Linguistics Association (AELCO/ SCOLA). University of Valencia, Valencia (Spain), May 12-15
Soriano, C. (2002). “The “HEAT” metaphor in the expression of anger in English and Spanish”. Mind, Language and Metaphor. EuroConference on Consciousness and the Imagination. Kerkrade (The Netherlands), April 20-24.
Soriano, C. (2002). “Metáforas y metonimias cognitivas en la conceptualización de la ira. Estudio contrastivo inglés-español”. XVII International Young Linguists Association Conference. University of Alicante, Alicante (Spain), April 18-20.
Knowledge transfer/ outreach
Soriano, C. (2022, November 25). Chairperson in outreach symposium Brain Forum “Emotions”, organized by Brain Circle Italia and the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (CISA). Geneva
Soriano, C. (2022, September 3). Participation in theme session "Le rôle des émotions face à la crise écologique". 8th festival Alternatiba Leman. Geneva.
Soriano, C. (2022, August 29). Interview in « Climat: Le choix des mots ». Podcast series «Tout contre la Terre, Grands entretiens ». Chahut Media
Soriano, C. (2022, May 9). Participation in « Le climat est en crise, notre colère grandit ». Podcast series « Tout contre la Terre, le podcast ». Chahut Media
Soriano, C. (2021, November 27). Participation in round table "Tout contre la Terre : Lâcher nos biais cognitifs pour changer d'imaginaires". Organized by the Réseau genevois de l'économie sociale et solidaire. Geneva.
Soriano, C. (2021). "The nature of our affects" and other texts. Museum exhibition "Agir tout contre la Terre". Natural History Museum, Geneva.
Soriano, C. (2020, October). " "You get strong and self-reliant": How research shapes you". Interview for online journal Method Pliant,
Soriano, C. (2019). "Fleurs, couleurs et émotions". Text for exhibition "Symboles & Sentiments, secrets du monde végétal". Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, Geneva.
Soriano, C. (2014, February 20). "What does he mean by 'I love you'?". Blog entry.
Soriano, C. & Valenzuela, J. (2008). “Le Temps d'une metaphore”. Poster presented at La Nuit de la Science 2008. Museum of the History of Science, Geneva (Switzerland), July 5-6
Soriano, C. & Valenzuela, J. (2008). “La ligne du temps”. Poster presented at La Nuit de la Science 2008, Museum of the History of Science, Geneva (Switzerland), July 5-6