Waters, Sophia (2017). Nice as a cultural keyword: The semantics behind Australian discourses of sociality. In Carsten Levisen & Sophia Waters (Eds.), Cultural keywords in discourse (pp. 25-54). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/pbns.277.02wat
This chapter investigates the English word nice as a cultural key word, around which sociality discourses revolve. Focusing on its semantic scope in Australian discourse, the key word nice has an important story to tell about socially accepted and approved ways of thinking, communicating and behaving. Nice has often been trivialized, or even ridiculed as an “empty word”, but closer scrutiny reveals that nice has all the characteristics of a cultural key word. It is frequent and foundational in Australian discourse, and it reflects cultural logics, values and orientations. Also, as is common with cultural key words, nice lacks translational equivalents, even in closely related languages. A comparison with French gentil demonstrates how nice is distinctive in the way it organizes and maintains specific discursive orders.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
