Wierzbicka, Anna (2010). Cultural scripts. In Louise Cummings (Ed.), The pragmatics encyclopedia (pp. 92-95). London: Routledge.
The theory of cultural scripts is an offshoot of NSM semantics. The term cultural script, first introduced in 1991, stands for a cultural norm articulated in NSM. Cultural scripts exist at different levels of generality and may relate to different aspects of thinking, speaking and behaviour. High-level scripts, sometimes called master scripts, are often closely associated with core cultural values. They articulate broad cultural themes that are typically played out in detail by way of whole families of related speech practices, which themselves can be captured by means of more specific scripts. The accessibility and transparency of cultural scripts written in semantic primes gives them a huge advantage over technical modes of description.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
