Abstract
<jats:p>Japanese has formally corresponding adjective-verb pairs that express emotion, e.g. kanashii (sad) and kanashimu (to grieve). Previous studies have pointed out that these forms are used in different contexts; however, little attention has been paid to their semantic differences. By contrast, studies on languages such as Russian and English have highlighted clear distinctions between adjectives and verbs in the conceptualization of emotion. To address this gap, the paper aims to reveal the differences in the conceptualization of emotion between adjectives and verbs in Japanese. Thestudy analyzed nine adjective-verb pairs in Japanese and investigated their differences from three perspectives: (i) the cause of emotion, (ii) the object of emotion, and (iii) the expression of emotion. The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework was employed to capture the semantic structures of emotion concepts. This study proposed the semantic template for emotion verbs, which helps systematically analyze the meaning of Japanese emotion terms. Additionally, it explored why emotion verbs in Japanese are used less frequently than their adjectival counterparts, despite lexical availability. This was examined in light of cultural attitudes toward emotion in Japanese society. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how speakers of different languages conceptualize and categorize emotional experiences, which has important implications for the future development of lexical typology in emotion.</jats:p>