Li, Jiong-ying (2012). On the typological orientation of the NSM approach [In Chinese]. Journal of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (Social Science), 14(4), 41-46.
The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach aims at searching for the lexico-semantic universals of human languages (i. e. semantic primes) through cross-linguistic comparison. Within the framework of the NSM approach, the empirically established semantic primes have to be attested by a number of typologically divergent languages. The inherent lexical and syntactic properties of the universal semantic primes constitute the basis for universal grammar, thus providing a firm and universal basis on which to develop a typological framework for describing languages. After a critical review of previous studies on this issue, this paper mainly discusses the typological orientation of the NSM approach from the perspectives of both cross-linguistic comparison and cross-linguistic attesting. It is pointed out that the NSM approach, based on universal semantic primes, has opened new vistas for the study of lexical and semantic typology.
