Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (1995). Key words, culture and cognition. Philosophica, 55(1), 37-67.
Abstract:
How much does language influence how we think? How far are the categories of our language contingent and culture-specific? Few questions are of greater significance to the social sciences. This paper is an attempt to demonstrate that linguistic semantics can address these questions with rigour and precision. It analyses some examples of cultural key words in several languages. Two complementary positions are presented, and both are endorsed. On the one hand, it is argued there are enormous differences in the semantic structuring of different languages and these linguistic differences greatly influence how people think. On the other, it is argued all languages share a small set of universal concepts that can provide a solid basis for cross-cultural understanding and for the culture-independent formulation of philosophical problems.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
