Browsing results for English
Published on August 22, 2018. Last updated on September 5, 2018.
Tully, Alex (2016). Applications of NSM and Minimal English in second language teaching. Master’s thesis, Australian National University.
This thesis proposes a new approach to second language teaching to adults aiming at developing their “strategic competence”, the ability to use paraphrase to communicate meaning when confronted with gaps in their vocabulary. The importance of this skill has been widely acknowledged, yet in comparison to other aspects of linguistic competence, very little has been published on practical ways to develop it. To do so, this thesis draws the link between the theoretical framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and its expanded version Minimal English, and practical applications involving the use of paraphrase by both learners and teachers. It argues for explicit teaching of the vocabulary of Minimal English (and its equivalents based on other languages), including contrastive analysis of the “mini-grammar” encapsulated in each NSM prime, and illustrates how this can be done.
By doing this, this new approach wholeheartedly rejects methods such as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), which are based on the view that a second language (L2) is “acquired” via an unconscious, implicit process similar to the learning of a first language (L1). The empirical studies underpinning CLT have only been replicated when typological similarities between L1 and L2 enable positive transfer of grammatical features. In contrast, the proposed methodology aims to be applicable to all learners, especially those facing large typological L1-L2 typological differences. In light of the large and growing numbers of speakers of Asian languages learning English, this thesis makes an innovative contribution to current language teaching by moving away from methodologies such as CLT, which have not proven themselves useful or popular outside Europe. Rather, this thesis outlines a theoretical framework that avoids assumptions about positive transfer, and is thus more suitable for the global nature of language teaching in the 21st century.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) (causative constructions), (E) afraid, (E) chair, (E) crime, (E) promise, (E) unhappy
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 5, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff & Wierzbicka, Anna (2016). ‘It’s mine!’ Re-thinking the conceptual semantics of “possession” through NSM. Language Sciences, 56, 93-104. DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2016.03.002
This study has two main parts. It begins with a conceptual and semantic analysis in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework of what linguists term “true possession” or “ownership”. The requirements of the NSM framework force the analysis to be conducted using very simple expressions that are available not only in English, but (ideally) in all languages. The main proposal is that true possession is anchored in a semantic prime with an egocentric perspective that occurs in a predicative construction, i.e. (IS) MINE. It is argued that expressions like This is mine are semantically irreducible and (very likely) universally expressible across the diversity of the world’s languages.
In the second part of the study, three semantically and grammatically complex “possession verbs” are examined: steal, give, and own. Intricate (but coherent) explications for the English versions of these words are proposed, using (IS) MINE and a range of other semantic components. Though no claim is made that all languages possess precisely these meanings, this study hopes to help pave the way for a lexical semantic typology of “ownership-related” concepts in the languages of the world.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 25, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2016). Back to ‘mother’ and ‘father’: Overcoming the eurocentrism of kinship studies through eight lexical universals. Current Anthropology, 57(4), 408-429. DOI: 10.1086/687360
This paper addresses one of the most controversial issues in cultural anthropology: the conceptual foundations of kinship and the apparent inevitability of ethnocentrism in kinship studies. The field of kinship studies has been in turmoil over the past few decades, repeatedly pronounced dead and then again rising from the ashes and being declared central to human affairs. As this paper argues, the conceptual confusion surrounding kinship is to a large extent due to the lack of a clear and rigorous methodology for discovering how speakers of the world’s different languages actually navigate their kinship systems.
Building on the author’s earlier work on kinship but taking the analysis much further, this paper seeks to demonstrate that such a methodology can be found in Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory (developed by the author and colleagues), which relies on 65 universal semantic primes and on a small number of universal “semantic molecules” including ‘mother’ and ‘father’. The paper offers a new model for the interpretation of kinship terminologies and opens new perspectives for the investigation of kinship systems across languages and cultures.
Comments by a number of scholars, including Felix Ameka, follow the paper.
See also:
Kotorova, Elizaveta (2018). Analysis of kinship terms using Natural Semantic Metalanguage: Anna Wierzbicka’s approach. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 22(3), 701-710.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) awofasi, (E) born, (E) duujinda, (E) Father, (E) kamuru, (E) kularrinda, (E) kuntili, (E) kuta, (E) malanypa, (E) mama, (E) mother, (E) ngunytju, (E) thabuju, (E) tɔ, (E) wakatha, (E) wofa, (E) wofasi, (E) yakukathu, (S) kinship, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 9, 2018.
Wong, Jock (2016). A critical look at the description of speech acts. In Alessandro Capone, & Jacob L. Mey (Eds.), Interdisciplinary studies in pragmatics, culture and society (pp. 825-855). Cham: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-12616-6_32
For John Searle, philosophy of language was the attempt to come up with philosophically illuminating descriptions of some of the general features of language. It was to concern itself only incidentally with particular elements in a particular language. The problem is that understanding the general features of language requires a metalanguage that contains general features of language; a metalanguage that contains particular elements associated with particular languages (or, in other words, an ethnocentric metalanguage) does not fit the bill. Yet, this is precisely how the study of speech acts, which originally came under the ambit of language philosophy, is often conducted – with an ethnocentric metalanguage. It seems paradoxical that while scholars who study speech acts directly or indirectly engage in the pursuit of language universals, the metalanguage they use often effectively prevents them from reaching that goal.
This chapter argues that, if we want to fruitfully study speech acts in world languages, we should employ an analytical tool that is minimally ethnocentric, such as the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). It helps us recognize speech acts from any language, even if there is no English word for them, and it allows us to understand them from the inside.
This chapter also argues that we should refrain from “comparing” speech acts by asking how people in various cultures perform the same speech act because this would necessitate the use of a language-specific speech act verb (e.g., request, apologize). A more fruitful way might be to formulate a generic situation using NSM and ask how people in various cultures respond in/to that situation.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) (assertives), (E) (commissives), (E) (declaratives), (E) (directives), (E) (expressives)
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 18, 2019.
Levisen, Carsten (2017). Personhood constructs in language and thought: New evidence from Danish. In Zhengdao Ye (Ed.), The semantics of nouns (pp. 120-146). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198736721.003.0005
Abstract:
This chapter analyses personhood constructs, a particular type of noun whose meanings conceptualize invisible parts of a person. The meaning of personhood constructs originates in cultural discourses, and they can vary considerably across linguistic communities. They are reflective of society’s dominant ethnopsychological ideas, and they co-develop with historical changes in discourse. Drawing on insights from previous studies, a semantic template is developed to account for the differences but also the similarities in personhood constructs. With a detailed case study on Danish personhood constructs, the chapter tests the template on the translation-resistant Danish concept of sind, along with two other Danish nouns: sjæl ‘soul’ and ånd ‘spirit’. The case study provides a model for how personhood constructs can be empirically explored with tools from linguistic semantics.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ånd, (E) duša душа, (E) maum 몸, (E) mind, (E) sind, (E) sjæl, (S) immortality, (S) spirituality
Published on August 8, 2018. Last updated on August 31, 2018.
Forbes, Alexander (2017). Contested understandings of ‘autism’: the view from NSM semantics. Master’s thesis, University of New England.
There are different understandings of Autism Spectrum Disorder in different groups of people, based on knowledge of ASD and individual experience. There exists space, therefore, for a contrastive analysis of different ‘identity group’ understandings. This study proposes to “sketch out” how four distinct identity groups think about a person and a situation upon hearing that this person has “autism”; in other words, what is the overall understanding of autism from the perspective of different identity clusters? While scientific research can provide a starting point in revealing how different “types” of people understand autism, mass media and relevant online discussion boards can provide further evidence to support an internally-driven, “whole-of-experience” perspective. A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of texts in multiple modes is undertaken for the purpose of positing cognitive scenarios, formulated using Natural Semantic Metalanguage, that are hypothesized to be activated, either completely or in components, in four different identity groups upon hearing the phrase X has autism.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) autism
Published on October 16, 2018. Last updated on October 18, 2018.
Choesna, Mayla (2017). Kata-kata bermuatan konsep freedom dalam budaya Inggris [Words expressing the concept of freedom in English culture]. Master’s thesis, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.
Written in Indonesian.
This investigation into the key nouns for the concept of freedom in British English culture deals with usage patterns, meanings and underlying cultural aspects. Data were obtained from dictionaries and on-line corpora. The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach is applied jointly with the Componential Analysis framework to investigate the issues.
This study yields several findings. At least 16 nouns are involved: liberty, carte blanche, free will, latitude, leeway, immunity, impunity, exemption, discretion, free speech, sovereignty, independence, autonomy, self-determination, and autarky. They can be grouped into three categories. The freedom to~ category includes liberty, carte blanche, free will, latitude, and leeway; the freedom from~ type includes immunity, impunity, and exemption; and the freedom of~ type includes discretion, free speech, sovereignty, independence, autonomy, self-determination, and autarky. The freedom to~ type has as its central feature “if I want to do something, I can do it”. The freedom from~ type relies on the semantic components “I don’t have to do something” / “many people have to do this”. The freedom of~ category is typically framed as “if I want to do something I can do it/I can do something” / “this something is something like this”. The differences between the various nouns – which can be designated as cultural key words – can be elucidated through the elaboration of their prototypical cognitive scenario as this is the part that developa the understanding of the concepts differently.
The concepts of freedom manifested in the nouns have cultural underpinnings. These are geographically and philosophically motivated. The insularity of the English developed their independence as well as their free spirit. Their philosophical outlook encouraged cultural values such as non-interference, nonimposition, personal autonomy, anti-dogmatism, and tolerance. Other linguistic evidence such as expressions corroborate the claim that freedom is an English cultural value. It can therefore be said that the realized cultural key words are the representation of the English concept of freedom.
Tags: (E) autarky, (E) autonomy, (E) carte blanche, (E) discretion, (E) exemption, (E) free speech, (E) free will, (E) immunity, (E) impunity, (E) independence, (E) latitude, (E) leeway, (E) liberty, (E) self-determination, (E) sovereignty
Published on October 15, 2017. Last updated on January 15, 2022.
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
Tags: (E) nice
Published on May 16, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Roberts, Michael (2017). The semantics of demonyms in English: Germans, Queenslanders, and Londoners. In Zhengdao Ye (Ed.), The semantics of nouns (pp. 205-220). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198736721.003.0008
This chapter explores the semantics of demonyms, as they are used in the English language, and demonstrates using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) that demonyms can be divided into a number of categories. Using ‘semantic templates’, it shows that the demonyms Germans, Queenslanders, and Londoners can be separated into categories based on their relationship to the semantic molecule ‘country’, and that without this semantic molecule, subtle differences in the use of the demonyms cannot be fully explained. For instance, corpus analysis reveals that the terms used refer to people from countries (Australians, Germans, Danes) do not occur with terms that refer to people from cities or town (Melbournians, Londoners, Parisians). Conceptually, people seem to understand that all demonyms are not the same, and that there are different types of demonyms. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying the types of demonyms, by exploring both their use and their semantic characteristics.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) [demonyms], (E) country
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 24, 2019.
Stollznow, Karen (2017). The language of discrimination. München: Lincom.
Abstract:
This book presents and justifies semantic explications for a field of words pertaining to the language of abuse, hatred and the processes of discrimination. Semantic representations adopt the principles of the NSM approach. The discussion is categorized into four sections, commencing with an examination of the speech act verbs insult, abuse, denigrate, vilify and offend. Then follows an analysis of words that describe the social acts of discrimination, including dehumanize, demonize, marginalize, stigmatize and discriminate. Next is an analysis of words that describe the cognitive elements of discrimination, including stereotype, intolerance, prejudice, xenophobia, racism and sexism. The final section is a treatise on overt and covert discrimination, and discusses perspectives and directions in this area of research.
The data is sourced from naturally occurring examples and corpora, including Collins Word Bank and the British National Corpus. Where applicable, the work engages in a comparative discussion of lexicographical and lexicological methodology. The explications are supported by pragmatic and syntactic evidence, extracted from speech media, corpora and other textual sources. The findings of this research have practical applications for many diverse fields, including law, public policy, education and conflict resolution. This work also endeavours to enhance the contribution of lexical semantics to lexicography.
More information:
The 2017 version is a facsimile edition of the author’s PhD thesis, University of New England (2007). Open access
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) abuse, (E) dehumanize, (E) demonize, (E) denigrate, (E) discriminate, (E) insult, (E) intolerance, (E) marginalize, (E) offend, (E) prejudice, (E) racism, (E) sexism, (E) stereotype, (E) stigmatize, (E) vilify, (E) xenophobia
Published on September 6, 2018. Last updated on September 6, 2018.
Kwon, Jeong-Hyun & Lee, Sang-Geun (2017). A study on Korean EFL learners’ perception of English emotion words in the NSM theory. Studies in Linguistics, 43(4), 209-232. DOI: 10.17002/sil..43.201704.209. PDF (open access)
The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which Korean EFL learners (n = 12) at an advanced English proficiency level could distinguish subtle differences in meaning among closely related English emotion words. For data collection, this study conducted two tasks: a sentence-completion task and an explication-recognition task. For the explication-recognition task, the study used seven existing NSM explications and instructed participants to match each of seven emotion words up with its most appropriate explication. They were also asked to underline the component(s) of the explication that affected their choices to minimize any possible casual choices. For the sentence completion task, the participants were asked to fill out each blank (20 blanks in total) with the most appropriate word of emotion and then briefly explain reasons for their choices. The results of this study support the Leibnizian position that it could be more effective for L2 learners to learn culture-specific words with context than without.
No rating is provided.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2017). Furniture, vegetables, weapons: Functional collective superordinates in the English lexicon. In Zhengdao Ye (Ed.), The semantics of nouns (pp. 246-281). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198736721.003.0010
This chapter deals with the semantic structure of functional collective superordinates, concentrating on three formally distinguishable classes. These can be termed ‘singular only’ (mass), e.g. furniture, cutlery; ‘plural mostly’, e.g. vegetables, cosmetics; and ‘countable’, e.g. weapons, vehicles. The chapter begins with a semantic overview, then moves to a selective review of the psycholinguistic and other cognitive science literature on superordinates. It is argued that much of this literature is flawed by the ‘All Superordinates are Taxonomic’ Fallacy. The study then presents semantic templates and explications for a sample of words from the three different formal classes just mentioned, in the process differentiating a number of semantic subclasses. A novel proposal is that the semantic structure of functional collective superordinates includes one or more hyponymic exemplars. This proposal and other semantic issues are reprised and discussed before some concluding remarks are offered.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) aircraft, (E) clothing, (E) cosmetics, (E) crockery, (E) cutlery, (E) drugs, (E) furniture, (E) herbs, (E) insects, (E) jewellery, (E) jewelry, (E) musical instruments, (E) poultry, (E) reptiles, (E) textiles, (E) tools, (E) toys, (E) vegetables, (E) vehicles, (E) weapons
Published on September 6, 2018. Last updated on September 6, 2018.
Moisejeva, Natalija (2017). The semantic analysis of the English cultural key word ‘right’ and its equivalents in Italian and Lithuanian. S.l.: LAP (Lambert Academic Publishing).
The present research paper aims at providing an insight into the nature of the English cultural key word right and its expression in Italian and Lithuanian as well as into the various cultural scripts underlying this concept. The analysis is based on the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and theories of Cultural Key Words and Cultural Scripts elaborated by Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard in the 1990s. They claim that, apart from common words that are clear to everyone, there exist certain culture-specific concepts fully understandable only to the representatives of a specific culture. The main attention of this study is, therefore, focused on revealing the meaning groups underlying the English word right and their expression in Italian and Lithuanian, as well as on formulating cultural scripts underlying each meaning group using semantic primes from the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. The source of the findings is the original version of George Orwell’s 1984 as well as its two translations.
A 2010 article with a similar title, by the same author but more limited in its scope, does not contain any NSM explications. That earlier article is available online [PDF (open access)].
Tags: (E) right
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 6, 2018.
Jordan, Paul (2017). How to start, carry on and end conversations: Scripts for social situations for people on the autism spectrum. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Do you find it hard to make friends? Do you struggle to know what to say to start a conversation?
In this book, Paul Jordan, who is on the autism spectrum, explains how to make sense of everyday social situations you might encounter at school, university or in other group settings. He reveals how, with the use of just 65 simple words, it is possible to create ‘scripts for thinking’ that break conversations down into small chunks and help you to think of what to say, whether you are speaking to a fellow student, starting a conversation with a new friend, calling out bullies or answering a teacher’s question.
These small words will be a big help for all teenagers and young people with ASD.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) being mindful (or staying in the present), (E) bullying, (S) change conversation topic, (S) consideration for others, (S) coping with the effects of thinking differently from how others think, (S) dealing with frustration, (S) dealing with the unexpected, (S) doing something nice with someone you don't know well, (S) doing things for recreation, (S) end a conversation, (S) escaping from real life, (S) figuring out how animals behave, (S) getting priorities right, (S) identifying relevant information, (S) join in a conversation, (S) keep a conversation going, (S) learning about things my own way, (S) meeting up with someone one hasn't seen for some time, (S) pretending to be another "me", (S) reporting a bully, (S) responding to a bully, (S) start a conversation, (S) taking longer to process information, (S) telling someone how you feel when you are bullied
Published on June 28, 2017. Last updated on August 16, 2021.
Mooney, Annabelle (2017). Torture laid bare. Journal of Language and Politics, 16(3), 434-452. DOI: 10.1075/jlp.15040.moo
Torture, while internationally sanctioned, is not well-defined. This paper sets out a Minimal English definition of the crime of ‘torture’ in international law. The four elements of torture are: (1) infliction of severe pain and suffering (2) acting with intent (3) for a purpose (4) by the state. The connection between intention and outcome is considered in the light of presumptions. I then briefly consider the concept of ‘lawful sanctions’ and the UN Standard Minimum Rules that apply to the treatment of prisoners to establish a baseline against which allegations of torture can be measured. Finally, I argue that current regimes of British benefit sanctions, whereby social welfare payments are stopped, may in some cases constitute torture. This argument considers the effects of sanctions and the discourses and ideologies attached to social welfare claimants.
Tags: (E) torture
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 1, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2017). Ethnopragmatic perspectives on conversational humour, with special reference to Australian English. Language & Communication, 55, 55-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.langcom.2016.09.008
This paper argues that the ethnopragmatic approach allows humour researchers both to access the “insider perspectives” of native speakers and to ward off conceptual Anglocentrism. It begins with a semantic inquiry into the word laugh, a plausible lexical universal and an essential anchor point for humour studies. It then demonstrates how the two main modes of ethnopragmatic analysis, semantic explication and cultural scripts, can be applied to selected topics in conversational humour research. Semantic explications are proposed for three English specific “humour concepts”: funny, amusing, and humour. Cultural scripts are proposed for “jocular abuse”, “deadpan jocular irony” and “jocular deception” in Australian English. The semantic explications and cultural scripts are composed using simple, cross-translatable words.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) amusing, (E) funny, (E) humour, (E) laugh, (S) deadpan jocular irony, (S) jocular abuse, (S) jocular deception, (S) jocular provocation, (T) English
Published on October 15, 2017. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Rowen, Roslyn (2017). Bogan as a keyword of contemporary Australia: Sociality and national discourse in Australian English. In Carsten Levisen & Sophia Waters (Eds.), Cultural keywords in discourse (pp. 55-82). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/pbns.277.03row
This chapter studies the word bogan as a cultural key word of contemporary Australian public discourse. The word bogan is specific to Australian English, with its closest counterpart in other Englishes being chav in British English and white trash or redneck in American English. Through a semantic analysis of the word, this chapter demonstrates that the social category of “bogans” remains a negative concept, denoting a certain group of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are car-loving, prone to violence and have a certain bogan outlook on life. However, the chapter also shows that in contemporary Australian discourse this originally negative concept can be transformed into a way of self-identification, and as a way of positively embracing Australian nationalism. This analysis is supported by studies in the ethnopragmatics and historical pragmatics of Australian English, which show a general tendency to value the “shared ordinariness” of people and to discursively “heroise” the little man, and the semi-criminal person. Applying the NSM approach to linguistic and cultural analysis, this chapter provides new analyses of the meaning of bogan, and cultural scripts related to the concept. It also opens up the study of the emergence of new cultural key words, and on the semantic and discursive diversity within Anglo Englishes.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) bogan
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 5, 2019.
Romero-Trillo, Jesús & Avila-Ledesma, Nancy E. (2017). The ethnopragmatic representation of positive and negative emotions in Irish immigrants’ letters. In Keith Allan, Alessandro Capone & Istvan Kecskes (Eds.), Pragmemes and theories of language use (pp. 393-420). Cham: Springer.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-43491-9_21
Abstract:
This chapter explores the ethnopragmatic conceptualization of happiness and sadness in the language of the Irish citizens who immigrated to North America between 1811 and 1880, on the basis of a corpus of Irish emigrants’ personal correspondence. In particular, this study proposes a Natural Semantic Metalanguage examination of the emotional load of the positive adjectives happy and glad, and their negative counterparts, unhappy and sad, to elucidate Irish emigrants’ psychological states of mind and emotional responses to transatlantic migrations and life abroad. It investigates the pragmatic uses of key emotion terms in the corpus based upon the semantic explications developed by Wierzbicka and adds to these an explication of the adjective glad. It is shown that the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework can be fruitfully used as an analytic tool to unveil the linguistic specificities embedded in the conceptualization of psychological acts such as emotions.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) delighted, (E) glad, (E) happy, (E) sad, (E) unhappy
Published on April 2, 2018. Last updated on July 26, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2017). Dying for a cause other than God: Exploring the non-religious meanings of martyr and shahīd. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 37(3), 314-327.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2017.1298395
Abstract:
This paper looks into the non-religious meanings of English martyr and its near Arabic equivalent شهيد shahīd. It compares and contrasts them and provides an explication of each, using NSM. Both concepts refer to a person who was killed. Both are hailed for sacrificing their lives. To be called a martyr, a person has to have been killed for adhering and fighting for a higher cause, such as peace, the environment or their country; this person can be from any country and of any ethnicity. To be called شهيد shahīd, on the other hand, a person must have been killed on political grounds only and has to have been an Arab living in an Arab country.
The two explications are built out of mostly simple and universal words. This means that they are easy to comprehend and translatable into any language. Their translatability grants cultural outsiders access to their exact meaning.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) martyr, (E) shahīd شهيد
Published on August 26, 2018. Last updated on September 12, 2018.
Dendenne, Boudjemaa (2017). A cross-cultural study of speech act realisations in Arabic and English: A cultural-scripts approach. Revue académique des études humaines et sociales, Series B: Littérature et Philosophie, 18, 3-15. PDF (Researchgate)
This paper reports on the findings of a cross-cultural pragmatic study into the realization of two speech acts that are common in Arabic and English, namely requests and apologies. Natural Semantic Metalanguage and cultural scripts have been employed for this purpose. The usefulness of the adopted approach lies in the fact that it describes norms, behaviours and cultural meanings in a particular language/culture in a way that is accessible to both insiders and outsiders. Cross-cultural education and intercultural communication both stand to benefit from such an approach.
The ultimate goal behind the use of NSM and cultural scripts is to reduce cultural misunderstandings and conflicts. The author strongly recommends adoption of these tools to re-describe and re-explicate findings that are regarded as empirically well founded in previous cross-cultural studies.
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tags: (S) apologies, (S) requests
