Cramer, Rahel (2015). German Ordnung: A semantic and ethnopragmatic analysis of a core cultural value. International Journal of Language and Culture, 2(2), 269-293. DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.2.2.06cra
This study aims to illustrate the intricate connections that exist between features of a certain language and underlying culture-specific conceptualizations. The analysis sheds new light on a German cultural core value, namely, Ordnung ‘order’, its relationship to other cultural themes, and the influence it exerts on German interpersonal style. To allow for a better understanding of the German core value Ordnung ‘order’ as it relates to other German cultural themes, the study first provides an analysis of the common expressions alles (ist) in Ordnung ‘everything [is] in order’ and Ordnung muss sein ‘there has to be order’. This will be followed by an analysis of the social descriptor term locker ‘loose’. The paper seeks to illustrate the merits of a perspective in language and culture studies that is truly culture-internal and can thus facilitate cross-cultural understanding, and it does so by applying the principles of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach
to semantic and ethnopragmatic description.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
