Browsing results for Cultural key words

(2020) English, Russian – Cultural key words

Published on June 19, 2020. Last updated on November 22, 2020.

Gladkova, Anna (2020). When value words cross cultural borders: English tolerant versus Russian tolerantnyj. In Lauren Sadow, Bert Peeters, & Kerry Mullan (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 3. Minimal English (and beyond) (pp. 73-93). Singapore: Springer.

DOI:

Abstract:

This chapter investigates the situation of language change in contemporary Russian with a particular focus on value words. Using data from the Russian National Corpus, it analyses the meaning of the word толерантный tolerantnyj, which has been borrowed from English. It compares its meaning with the English tolerant as a source of borrowing and the traditional Russian term tерпимый terpimyj. The chapter demonstrates a shift in meaning in the borrowed term, which allows it to accommodate to the Russian value system. The meanings of the terms in question are formulated using universal meanings employed in Minimal English, which makes the comparison transparent and explicit.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

Tags: , , , ,

(2020) Japanese – Cultural key words

Published on February 9, 2020. Last updated on February 9, 2020.

Asano-Cavanagh, Yuko; Farese, Gian Marco (2020). In staunch pursuit: The semantics of the Japanese terms shūkatsu ‘job hunting’ and konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’. In Bert Peeters, Kerry Mullan, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture (pp. 17-33). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7_2

Abstract:

This chapter presents an analysis of two Japanese compound words that share a common suffix. The words are 就活 shūkatsu ‘job hunting’ and 婚活 konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’. It is perhaps not entirely unexpected that the English glosses fall short of conveying the significant cultural context behind them. The shared suffix, 活 katsu, comes from the Japanese word 活動 katsudō, which means ‘activity’. 活 katsu implies a high level of engagement and dedication as well as a degree of obligation or a sense of duty associated with the task. For instance, 就活 shūkatsu implies single-mindedness regarding the activity of job-seeking, requiring deliberate effort from the participant. Similarly, 婚活 konkatsu implies that total devotion to the act of finding a marriage partner.

婚活 konkatsu, unlike 就活 shūkatsu, has drawn some attention from scholars, but no accurate semantic analysis of either has been carried out thus far. This study uses the framework of the NSM approach to clarify the meaning of these two Japanese compound words. The analysis reveals that the people engaged in the activities they refer to are fearful of not attaining their goal and that the use of the suffix 活katsu in the Japanese word formation process is therefore semantically rooted. The analysis also assists in identifying and elaborating on some of the contradictions and complexities of modern Japanese society.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

Tags: ,

(2020) Spanish (Latin America) – Cultural key words

Published on July 28, 2020. Last updated on July 28, 2020.

Hein, Jan (2020). Cultural keywords in Porteño Spanish: viveza criolla, vivo and boludo. In Bert Peeters, Kerry Mullan, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture (pp. 35-56). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7_3

Abstract:

Viveza criolla, vivo and boludo are three interrelated cultural key words in Porteño Spanish, the variety of Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They have been loosely translated as “native wit and cunning”, “clever, vivacious” and “moron”, respectively. However, these translations fail to capture the exact meanings and implied logic that guide Porteños — the residents of Buenos Aires — when they use these words. This paper first looks at the historical context that saw the emergence of viveza criolla in Buenos Aires, pointing out its link to local criollo culture. It then studies how the three words have been defined in a varied sample of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. It is  claimed that, besides issues of ethnocentric framing and circularity, viveza is not sufficiently described as an expression of local culture and sociality, and neither vivo nor boludo are appropriately captured as social categories. Finally, I use the NSM approach to capture and explore the keywords’ meanings in simple, cross-translatable terms. Semantic explications are supported with discursive evidence from common sayings, fixed expressions, news articles, tango lyrics and tweets.

Rating:


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

Tags: , ,

(2020) Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication [BOOK, vol. 2]

Published on November 15, 2019. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

Peeters, Bert; Mullan, Kerry; & Sadow, Lauren (Eds.) (2020). Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture. Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7

Abstract:

This book is the second in a three-volume set that celebrates the career and achievements of Cliff Goddard, a pioneer of the NSM approach in linguistics. It focuses on meaning and culture, with sections on words as carriers of cultural meaning and understanding discourse in cultural context.

Table of contents: 

1. Culture is everywhere! (Bert Peeters)

Part I. Words as carriers of cultural meaning

2. In staunch pursuit: the semantics of the Japanese terms shūkatsu ‘job hunting’ and konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’ (Yuko Asano-Cavanagh & Gian Marco Farese)
3. Cultural keywords in Porteño Spanish: viveza criolla, vivo and boludo (Jan Hein)
4. The “Aussie” bogan: an occasioned semantics analysis (Roslyn Rowen)
5. The comfort of home as an ethical value in Mike Packer’s Inheritance (Stella Butter & Zuzanna Bułat Silva)
6. Common Akan insults on GhanaWeb: a semantic analysis of kwasea, aboa and gyimii (Rachel Thompson)
7. Bwénaado: an ethnolexicological study of a culturally salient word in Cèmuhî (New Caledonia) (Bert Peeters & Margo Lecompte-Van Poucke)
8. Heaven and hell are here! The non-religious meanings of English heaven and hell and their Arabic and Hebrew counterparts (Sandy Habib)

Part II. Understanding discourse in cultural context

9. Postcolonial prepositions: semantics and popular geopolitics in the Danosphere (Carsten Levisen)
10. Combining NSM explications for clusters of Cantonese utterance particles: laa3-wo3 and zaa3-wo3 (Helen Hue Lam Leung)

More information:

Each chapter has its own entry, where additional information is provided.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2021) An Anatomy of Chinese Offensive Words [BOOK]

Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 15, 2022.

Tien, Adrien, Carson, Lorna, & Jiang, Ning. (2021). An Anatomy of Chinese Offensive Words: A Lexical and Semantic Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Abstract

This book offers a precise and rigorous analysis of the meanings of offensive words in Chinese. Adopting a semantic and cultural approach, the authors demonstrate how offensive words can and should be systematically researched, documented and accounted for as a valid aspect of any language. The book will be of interest to academics, practitioners and students of sociolinguistics, language and culture, linguistic taboo, Chinese studies and Chinese linguistics.

 

From the Foreward

This book began life as an individual project undertaken by Professor Adrian Tien. After living in Australia and Singapore, Adrian moved to Ireland in 2015 to take up a new post at Trinity College Dublin, where he was recruited to direct the growing Chinese Studies programme in the university. Within three years of his arrival, Adrian tragically passed away following a short illness. Aware of the progress of this book project, we— Adrian’s colleague Professor Lorna Carson, and his former PhD student and research assistant Dr Ning Jiang—undertook to complete the manu- script as a way of honouring Adrian’s memory, our friendship and his academic legacy. The vision for this book belongs to Adrian, and any errors or shortcomings which follow remain the responsibility of his co-authors.

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2021) English – Economy

Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.

Goddard, Cliff, & Sadow, Lauren. (2021). “It’s the Economy, Stupid”: The Everyday Semantics of a Geopolitical Key Word. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics, 5(2021), 226–238

(Open Access)

 

Abstract:

Despite its Anglo/Euro origins, there can be no doubt that ‘(the) economy’ is a key word in the discourse of global geopolitics. This study explicates the lexical/conceptual semantics of the expression in everyday English, using the NSM approach to meaning description. Unlike most dictionaries, we draw a distinction between two different senses: a “people-focussed”, experience-near sense (‘economy-1’), and a broader, more “educated” concept (‘economy-2’). Both senses can be regarded as folk concepts designating what philosopher Jeremy Bentham termed “fictitious entities” which belong to a certain mental ontology and support certain kinds of discourse. The results shed light on how and why ‘the economy’ has such a totalising power over many discourses: national, international and global.

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

Tags: