Lorenzana, Angela E. (2006). Galit: The Filipino emotion word for ‘anger’. In Tenth international conference on Austronesian linguistics (10-ICAL). http://www-01.sil.org/asia/philippines/ical/index.html. PDF (open access)
Noteworthy semantic studies have been conducted to explicate anger concepts in different languages. One tool for such cross-cultural comparisons is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), a set of 56 indefinable words or semantic primes developed by Anna Wierzbicka over a period of 35 years. Using this tool in analysing emotion concepts through linguistic evidence such as literary excerpts, dialogs and interviews reveals the fact that while emotional universals allegedly exist, emotions are experienced and expressed differently. The use of the semantic primes allows the formulation of a detailed statement (otherwise known as explication) of the elements that compose the meaning or definition of a complex word. Semantic explications for anger words in different languages reveal marked differences in their causes, management and expression. For instance, emotion words for anger such as the Anglo-Saxon anger, the Ifaluk song, the Chinese nu or the Polish gniew were found to be different from the Filipino word galit. Using NSM as a common measure or tertium comparationis, one can correctly and meaningfully compare as many different languages as possible.
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
