Browsing results for Broad topics
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Levisen, Carsten. (2021). Pæn, flot, dejlig, and lækker : A lexical anthropology of Danish folk aesthetics. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 14–34
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00033.lev
Abstract:
This paper examines the Danish language of aesthetics from the perspective of four untranslatable adjectives: pæn, flot, dejlig, and lækker. These words are frequent and salient in everyday discourses, and as such they shed light on Danish “folk” conceptions. From the perspective of Lexical Anthropology and NSM Semantics, each of the words are explored and explicated in order to shed light on the ways in which Danish discourse organize positive aesthetic experiences. Sensitive to polysemy, and the variety of lexicogrammatical frames in which the words occur, the paper provides a high-resolution analyses of the “something ADJ frame” which enables discourses of design, food, and art. Based on lexical semantic evidence, the paper locates two themes in Danish discourse: “aesthetic normality” and “ordinary hedonism” which seem to act as cognitive axes around which discourses revolve. The paper argues that words hold the key to understanding the diversity of aesthetic cultures, and that untranslatables in particular, allow for a deep emic understanding of how local configurations of seeing, feeling, touching, and thinking are constituted.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) dejlig, (E) flot, (E) lækker, (E) pæn, (T) Danish, (T) English
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Gladkova, Anna, & Romero-Trillo, Jesús. (2021). Is ugliness in the mind of the beholder? The conceptualization of ‘ugly’ in English. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 106–127
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00037.gla
Abstract:
The paper explores the meaning and use of ugly in English. The study is based on corpus data from Cobuild Wordbanks Online and investigates the polysemy and the spheres of application of the concept. Through corpus analysis methodology, we investigate the most common collocations and the pragmatic and contextual uses of the term. Based on this analysis, our study proposes semantic explications of ugly in universal human concepts within the theoretical framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). We also analyze the most common collocations with the word ugly and clas- sify them into several meaning-based categories. A comparison between beautiful and ugly reveals that they are not identical in their distribution, which suggests different cognitive salience of the concepts. We also note the special role of ‘people’ and ‘nature’ in conceptualization and use of beautiful and that of ‘human actions’ in ugly.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ugly, (T) English
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: (E) economy
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Peeters, Bert (2021). From Cultural to Pedagogical Scripts: Speaking Out in English, French, and Russian. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 171-193
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_7
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) epistemic reserve and openness, (S) expresividad, (S) expressing opinions (English), (S) expressing opinions (French), (S) expressing opinions (Russian), (S) iskrennost' искренность, (S) taking a stand, (S) vyrazitel’nost’
Published on November 11, 2020. Last updated on November 11, 2020.
Goddard, Cliff & Anna Wierzbicka (2021). “We”: conceptual semantics, linguistic typology and social cognition. Language Sciences, 83.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101327
Abstract:
This paper explores “we-words” in the languages of the world, using the NSM method of semantic analysis. A simply phrased, cross-translatable explication for English ‘we’ [1pl] is proposed, suitable also for other languages with a single we-word. At the same time, it is argued that English ‘we’ co-lexicalises a second distinct meaning “we two” [1du], and that the same goes for other languages with a single we-word. The two explications are identical, except for being based on ALL and TWO, respectively. Both explications involve components of “I-inclusion” (roughly, ‘I am one of them’) and “subjective identification” (roughly, ‘I’m thinking about them all in the same way’). It is argued, furthermore, that both meanings (“we-all” and “we-two”) are likely to be found in all languages. To establish this, one has to take account of languages which manifest the “inclusive/exclusive” distinction. For such languages, evidence suggests that one of the two we-words contains a semantic component of “you-inclusion”, while the other is semantically unmarked. Languages whose “we words” encode kinship relations are also briefly considered. The analysis has implications for the typology of pronoun systems, for theorising about human social cognition, and for the lexical semantics of key social concepts.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ngan'gu, (E) ngan'gu-ngintha, (E) ngan'gu-nitha, (E) nyaanki, (E) nyarri, (E) we, (E) we two
Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 17, 2022.
Sadow, Lauren, and Peeters, Bert. (2021). “J’ai mal à la tête” and analogous phrases in Romance languages and in English [« J’ai mal à la tête et expressions analogues dans les langues romanes et en anglais »], Cahiers de lexicologie, n° 119, 2021 – 2, Lexique et corps humain, p. 207-233
DOI : 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-12812-0.p.0207
Written in English
Résumé
L’existence de constructions syntaxiques différentes pour des phrases ayant le un sens similaire n’est pas le fruit du hasard. Nous utiliserons la métalangue sémantique naturelle pour expliquer les différentes constructions des “expressions de céphalées” courantes en français, italien, espagnol, roumain et anglais. Les explications permettront de mieux comprendre comment les locuteurs conceptualisent leurs maux de tête au quotidien, et comment leur choix de syntaxe modifie le sens de l’expression.
Abstract
The existence of different syntactic configurations for phrases with similar meanings is not by chance. In this paper, we will use the natural semantic metalanguage to offer explications for the different syntactic constructions of common “headache phrases” in French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, English. The explications will allow us to better understand how the speakers of each language conceptualize their day-to-day headaches, and how their choice of syntax changes the expression’s meaning.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ache, (E) Am dureri de cap, (E) Ça fait mal, (E) Ho mal di testa, (E) I have a headache, (E) it hurts, (E) J’ai mal à la tête, (E) La tête me fait mal, (E) Mă doare capul, (E) me duele, (E) Me duele la cabeza, (E) Mi fa male la testa, (E) Tengo dolor de cabeza
Published on January 10, 2022. Last updated on January 10, 2022.
Yee, Timothy Bing Lun & Wong, Jock. (2021). Japanese first-person singular pronouns revisited: A semantic and cultural interpretation. Journal of Pragmatics, 181(2021), pp 139-161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.05.025
Abstract:
Japanese pronouns have been the subject of scrutiny in many studies. The contexts of their use have thus often been discussed. However, although we know from literature that some pronouns are more ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’, or more formal or informal than others, it does not appear that we have reached a deep understanding of their inherent meanings. For example, we do not fully understand, from an insider perspective, why some Japanese first-person singular pronouns are said to be more masculine or feminine than others. We do not know why, for example, ore is said to be strongly masculine whereas atashi is seen as strongly feminine. Above all, we do not know which one of these pronouns is the Japanese exponent of the semantic prime I, i.e., the one that is indefinable. The present study aims to address these research gaps. However, due the constraints of space, it only analyzes the meanings of the six most common first-person singular pronouns: ore, watashi, jibun, boku, atashi, and uchi. It further proposes that the Japanese exponent of the semantic prime I is jibun. The study uses Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) to articulate meaning in terms that are maximally clear and minimally ethnocentric.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) atashi [私, (E) boku [僕], (E) ore [俺], (E) uchi [内 ウチ], (E) watakushi, (E) watashi [私], (S) attitudes associated with men, (S) how boys are expected to think, (S) how many girls think in Japanese society, (S) how people expect women to behave, (S) speak in a formal situation that can convey wakimae, あたし]
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Lee, Jeong-Ae (2021). Using Minimal Language to Help Foreign Learners Understand Korean Honorifics. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 195-221
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_8
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) contaymal, (E) panmal, (S) chomyen, (S) intimacy (Korean), (S) use of contaymal (Korean), (S) use of panmal (Korean), (S) vertical rank (Korean), (S) vertical rank consciousness (Korean)
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Wierzbicka, Anna. (2021). Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 319-345
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_12
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Diget, Ida Stevia. (2021). Minimal English for Health: Reader Accessibility in Public Health Communication About COVID-19 in Australia (with Contrastive Reference to Denmark). In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 281-318.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_11
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Juda, Magdalena. (2021). Ways of Thinking and Talking about Cancer. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 255-279.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_10
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) attitudes of people with cancer, (S) attitudes towards cancer
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Machin, Elita (2021). Minimal English and Revitalisation Education: Assisting Linguists to Explain Grammar in Simple, Everyday Words. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 83-107
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_4
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) adjective, (E) demonstrative, (E) forms of a suffix, (E) forms of a word, (E) noun, (E) pronoun, (E) root and suffix, (E) verb
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Sadow, Lauren (2021). Standard Translatable English: A Minimal English for Teaching and Learning Invisible Culture in Language Classrooms. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 139-169
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_6
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) jocular abuse, (S) softening disagreement with partial agreement
Published on August 19, 2021. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Goddard, Cliff. (2021). “Minimal language” and COVID-19: How to talk about complex ideas using simple words. 국어문학 [Society of Korean Language and Literature] 77. (2021): 125-144.
Abstract:
This paper presents an expanded version of a keynote lecture given to the annual conference of the Society of Korean Language and Literature (국어문학), 18 February 2021.
This lecture has four Parts. Part 1 briefly discusses ‘Critical communication issues in the pandemic era’, focussing on the need to use clear, simple language that everyone can understand. Part 2 explains what “minimal languages” are and how they have emerged from empirical research in linguistics. Part 3 presents and discusses examples of how to write about aspects of COVID-19 using minimal language. Part 4 addresses the implications for education and public policy.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Goddard, Cliff; Vanhatalo, Ulla; Hane, Amie A.; & Welch, Martha G. (2021). Adapting the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) into Minimal English and Seven Other Minimal Languages. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 225-254
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_9
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Bullock, David (2021). Using Minimal English (Minimal Spanish, Etc.) for Non-circular Learners’ Dictionaries. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 111-137
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_5
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 18, 2022.
Levisen, Carsten, & Fernández, Susana S. (2021). Words, People and Place: Linguistics Meets Popular Geopolitics. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics, 5(2021), 1–11
(Open Access)
Abstract
The language of everyday life is thick with geopolitical meaning. Everyday words, grammars, and stories are full of significant postulates about what the world is like. Habitual thinking about the world, its people and places, is guided by conceptual categories, created through, and supported by linguistic patterns and practices.
The language of everyday life allows many specific ways of conceptualizing and imagining people in places, but linguistics, the main discipline concerned with the study of the world’s languages, has not always seen and envisioned this link to geopolitics clearly. Due to the hesitant role of linguistics, the role of language(s) in geopolitical knowledge production has often been left to be studied by scholars of other disciplines. Stepping up to the challenge, we have in this volume invited linguists who work in many different areas and through different approaches to contribute to the emerging interdiscipline called ‘Popular Geopolitics’ (Saunders & Strukov 2018). The core idea behind this interdiscipline is that “geopolitical knowledges”, i.e. what people know and think about places (territories, cities, countries, etc.), and about people in these places (belonging, power relations, social cognition, etc.), is not only determined by the conceptualizations of diplomats, pundits, politicians, and political scientists, but just as much by everyday discourses and popular culture.
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Gladkova, Anna. (2021). “What is beauty?”: Cultural semantics of the Russian folk aesthetics. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 84–105
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00036.gla
Abstract:
The paper studies the semantics of four Russian key terms of aesthetic evaluation: krasivyj ‘beautiful’, prekrasnyj ‘beautiful/fine’, nekrasivyj ’ugly/ plain’ and bezobraznyj ‘ugly/frightful’. It demonstrates different patterns of polysemy of the words and the nuances of meaning. Following the framework of folk aesthetics and cultural semantics, the meanings of the terms in question are represented using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and are shown to relate to Russian cultural themes. The analysis demonstrates cultural significance of aesthetic value in Russian and its intrinsic link with ethics, morality and politeness.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) bezobraznyj, (E) krasivyj красивый, (E) nekrasivyj, (E) prekrasnyj
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Romero-Trillo, Jesús. (2021). The good, the bad… and the ugly? The conceptualization of aesthetics in Spanish. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 147–168
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00039.rom
Abstract:
The present article describes the conceptualization of aesthetics in Spanish through the analysis of the two prototypical terms that describe positive and negative sensory appreciation, i.e., “bonito” (beautiful) and “feo” (ugly). Following a mixed-approach methodology combining Natural Semantic Metalanguage and Corpus Pragmatics, the article compares the use of these adjectives in spoken and written language, analyzes their realization in the corpora under analysis, provides the explications that support their poly- semy, and describes their distribution in different contexts. The final part of the paper is devoted to the comparison of the use of these adjectives with their counterparts in English, as evidenced by another paper in this special issue.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) bonito, (E) feo, (T) Spanish
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Fernández, Susana S. (2021). The Conceptual Semantics of ‘Latin America’: Popular Geopolitics and Spanish Language Teaching in Denmark. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics, 5(2021), 31–54
(Open Access)
Abstract:
This article explores how the concept of ‘Latin America’ is constructed in connection with the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in Denmark, and how it is received and understood by Spanish learners in the country. The paper explores the concept of Latin America from different perspectives: Danish learners, young Latin Americans and through a historical overview, in order to embrace its complexity. The hypothesis is that the conceptualization of ‘Latin America’ in the context of language teaching in Denmark does not do justice to the diversity and richness of the geographical area and its peoples.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) América Latina, (E) Latinamerika
