In Oxford English Dictionary, the word "love" is derived from the Germanic word "Luba". Eibl-Eiblesfeldt defines love as"a general, emotional and personal bond between two or more persons". Wierzbicka [1] explains that "love is regarded through the lens of what people feel, think, and how they behave".

To elevate the human soul, Gülen [2] defines love as " the essential element of every being, and it is the most radiant light, and it is the greatest power; able to resist and overcome all else." In the domain of emotions, "love" is the cornerstone upon which all other feelings depend. 

It is said that love can be seen in all relationships, whether with" God, our selves, or others". "Love" is to incline someone or something, to be perplexed or excited [3].

Love: Linguistically

Since it is a psychological state, love is so hard to be expressed linguistically. Many scholars attempt to study it using linguistic markers.   According to Christy, as cited in Afghani, love can be expressed using "declarative, interrogatives, and imperatives."  Afghani states that "desire, longing, cherishing and selfless" are words used to denote love. Afful and Nartey [4] enlist several terms that imply endearment, such as "sweet, dear, pretty, honey, my beloved, 

In the Oxford Thesaurus in A-Z form Dictionary of Synonyms (2006:103), there are several words can be used interchangeably with love. Affection, fondness, admiration, passion, delight, pleasure, darling, sympathy, admire, adore, and harmony are among words that can use synonymously with love.   

Sotirova [5] mentions that pronouns "they", and "one" are employed to denote love. 

Exclamatory sentences, parallelism, and rhetoric questions are also used to carry the meaning of "love"[6]. Similarly, Muhammad [7] mentions that simile, metaphor, and repetition are also devices used to convey the sense of "love". 

According to Azhar et al. [8], deviation from language norms is a style that expresses "love".

Hurst [9] enumerates several constructions that denote the action to be carried collectively, such as "together, mutually, back-to- back and between".

Figurative Uses of Love

Giving rise to new meanings, Pérez [10] makes a detailed study about the symbolic use of love showing that it has several metaphors and metonymies. 

Metaphors 

Either positively or negatively, love composes of some metaphors which are as follows: 

Positive Metaphors

• Love is a Nutrient: I am starved for love

• Love is a Journey: It´s been a long, bumpy road

• Love is a Unity of Parts: We are as one. They are breaking up. We´re inseparable. We fused

Table 1: Levels of Emotions (Adopted from Sandstorm, 2006:13)

Negative Metaphors

• Love is an Economic Exchange: I’m putting more into this than you are
• Love is a Natural Force: She swept me off my feet
• Love is a Physical Force: I was magnetically drawn to her

Metonymies 

According to Pérez [10], the concept of love has many metonymies that can be characterized as follows:

• An Increase in Body Heat Stands for Love: I felt hot all over when I saw her
• Blushing Stands for Love: She blushed when she saw him
• Dizziness Stands for Love: She´s in a daze over him. I feel dizzy every time I see her

It is worthy of mentioning that model adopted for analyzing the following selected texts is developed on the basis of other models, such as Hurst [9,6,4], in addition to the observations made by the researcher herself. The eclectic model used to analyze of the present study illustrates the syntactic-semantic dimension of love. 

Data Analysis 

Text 1: "Dear; brothers and sisters;"

In an attempt to close religious gaps, Pope Francis opens his speech with the word "dear" which describes the relationship of brotherly love between him and his audience. "Dear" is a term used to address women and men in a friendly way, express positive politeness, and single out his listeners to what he wants to say.

Text 2

"This blessed place brings us back to our origins, to the sources of God’s work, to the birth of our religions."

The use of parallelism mirrors spiritual love. Expressively; Pope Francis creates a particular effect in the audience using parallel structure. The parallel construction device is worthy of reflecting Francis' ideology which calls for interfaith unity. 

Repeating grammatical rules respectively performs a sense of identity and belonging. Pope Francis emphasizes that all religions date back to Abraham's faith. 

Text 3

"Today we, Jews, Christians, and Muslims, together with our brothers and sisters of other religions, honor our father Abraham by doing as he did: we look up to heaven, and we journey on earth."

Pope Francis' words show solidarity and closeness. The common word "together" illuminates the idea of reconciliation and peace. Coexistence is the only way to live peacefully.   

"Together" reflects the unique bond that connects people regardless of their religions. The word "together" encompasses all types of love, whether physical or spiritual. Pope Francis aims to spread the concept of equality.   

Text 4

"Let us not allow the light of heaven to be overshadowed by the clouds of hatred!"

An exclamatory sentence is a technique for expressing love. Pope Francis delivers an emotional plea for peace. The Pope uses exclamations to send a message to avoid hostility and extremism.  He persuades the audience that coexistence in harmony is the only method to close the religious gap. The Pope appreciates the sense of self-elevation.

Text 5

"They cannot justify any form of imposition, oppression, and abuse of power; they cannot adopt an attitude of belligerence. Dear friends, is all this possible?"

The rhetorical question implies union and having opinions in common.  Pope Francis urges the idea of respect for humanity. The Pope's insights on hope and happiness reflect his wisdom.

Pope Francis employs rhetorical questions to inspire tranquility and encourage people to live in peace and love. He indirectly criticizes marginalization, saying that it is time to end violence and radicalisation.   

Text 6

"We raise our eyes to heaven in order to raise ourselves from the depths of our vanity; we serve God in order to be set free from enslavement to our egos, because God urges us to love."

Pope Francis calls for publicizing Divine love, which is endowed in the human's heart.  The Pope praises unconditional love, which lies in the word "love" that is laden with respect and intimacy. "Love" is used to acknowledge the combination of appreciation and passion in the speech the Pope gave.

 Text 7

"We need to move beyond ourselves, because we need one another."

The Pope emphasizes that there is no peace unless being hand in hand. To be as one entity will tighten relations among people. However; isolation or loneliness makes a gap which cannot be bridged. The word "one another", here, stands for unity and mutual relation that can play a vital role in closing gaps. Loving oneself and others is a way for ending struggle. 

Fraternity is the one and the only one that abide people from all negative issues such as crime, hostility, coercion, etc. 

Text 8

"The journey of Abraham was a blessing of peace. Yet it was not easy:"

Figuratively, the word "journey", reveals sustainable love and peace.  Pope Francis' apostolic journey is just a sample of that long journey. In Abraham's footsteps, The Pope marches in the way of love and dignity. 

In this particular text, "journey", elucidates a positive orientation and love which restores all what is broken. The pope stresses that this sort of love demands loving oneself and the people around.   It is a matter of compromise that necessitates living together in peace. 

Markers of love used by the Pope are accompanied by tranquility and serenity. His speech portrays the style of cultivating one's spirituality from all kinds of vices.

In the light of the data selected, love is the starting point that activates all other emotions (i.e. hope, happiness, satisfaction, etc.) The Pope's concept of love bridges chasms of agonies that engulf humanity. 

Devices of love are made use of for purposes of equality, promotion, and respect. They also sparkle spiritual calmness.

To eliminate boredom and identify the concept of love that is enthroned in the hearts of humanity, there is a kind of diversification in the use of love devices. 

It is also found that terms of love used in Pope Francis' discourse express respect and solidarity. They indicate unity and pure love that are accompanied by persistence and determination. 

1. Wierzbicka, A. "Defining emotion concepts." Cognitive Science, vol. 16, pp. 539–581, 1992.

2. Gülen, M.F. Toward a global civilization of love and tolerance. Somerset, NJ: Light, 2004.

3. Mannion, M. "Divine and human intimacy: a triangle of love for the new civilization of love." Studia Poliana, no. 13, pp. 175–186, 2011.

4. Afful, J.B.A., and Nartey, M. "Hello sweet pie: a sociolinguistic analysis of terms of endearment in a Ghanaian university." The International Journal of Social Sciences, 17(1), 2013.

5. Sotirova, V. "The enactment of feeling: a stylistic analysis of love scenes in The Rainbow." D. H. Lawrence Review, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 79–96, 2014.

6. Panasenko, N. "The role of syntactic stylistic means in expressing the emotion term love." Research in Language, vol. 11, no. 3, 2019.

7. Muhammad, F. et al. "A stylistic analysis of Elif Shafak's novel Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak." Sci. Int. (Lahore), 32(3), pp. 307–312, 2020.

8. Azhar, M. et al. "Foregrounding of the theme of love 'In The Rain'." European Journal of Psychological Research, vol. 1, no. 2, 2014.

9. Hurst, P. "Reciprocal constructions in English: each other and beyond." Retrieved from, 2007.

10. Pérez, R. G. "A cross-cultural analysis of heart metaphors." Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses, vol. 21, pp. 25–56, 2008.