Browsing results for English

(2021) French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, English — Pain, headaches, syntax

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

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(2021) Minimal English – Health Communication

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

(2021) Minimal English – Language Revitalisation

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

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(2021) Minimal English – Language Teaching

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

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(2021) Minimal languages – Coronavirus

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

(2022) English, molecules — Money

Published on January 31, 2022. Last updated on April 8, 2022.

Goddard, Cliff, Wierzbicka, Anna & Farese, Gian Marco. (2022). The conceptual semantics of “money” and “money verbs”. Russian Journal of Linguistics 26(1) 7–20. https://doi.org/10.22363/2687-0088-27193

Open Access

 

Abstract

The central purpose of this study is to apply the NSM (Natural Semantic Metalanguage) method of semantic-conceptual analysis to the word ‘money’ and to related “economic transaction” verbs, such as ‘buy’, ‘sell’ and ‘pay’, as used in everyday English. It proposes semantic explications for these words on the basis of conceptual analysis and a range of linguistic evidence and taking account of lexical polysemy. Even in its basic meaning (in a sentence like ‘there was some money on the table’), ‘money-1’ is shown to be surprisingly complex, comprising about 35 lines of semantic text and drawing on a number of semantic molecules (such as ‘country’, ‘number’, and ‘hands’), as well as a rich assortment of semantic primes. This ‘money-1’ meaning turns out to be a crucial semantic molecule in the composition of the verbs ‘buy’, ‘sell’, ‘pay’, and ‘(it) costs’. Each of these is treated in some detail, thereby bringing to light the complex semantic relationships between them and clarifying how this bears on their grammatical properties, such as argument structure. The concluding section considers how NSM semantic-conceptual analysis can help illuminate everyday economic thinking and also how it connects with Humanonics, an interdisciplinary project which aims to “re-humanise” economics.

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(Forthcoming) English, German – Emotions

Published on August 8, 2018. Last updated on October 19, 2019.

Goddard, Cliff (Forthcoming). Vocabulary of emotions and its development in English, German and other languages. In Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Jeanette Altarriba, & Bee Chin Ng (Eds.), Handbook of language and emotion. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Abstract:

In broad agreement with many emotion theorists, the NSM approach sees emotion concepts as “blends” of feelings and thoughts, sometimes accompanied by potential bodily reactions. This chapter delineates the semantic fundamentals of emotion vocabulary, demonstrates a framework for fine-grained contrastive analysis, and emphasizes the greater-than-expected semantic variability across languages, epochs, and cultures.

Using examples from English and German, the chapter summarizes findings about semantic templates and semantic components of various kinds of emotion terms, including adjectives (e.g. afraid, angry, ashamed), verbs (e.g. miss, worry), and abstract nouns (e.g. happiness, depression). Minor categories and examples from other, non-European, languages are also briefly considered. It is shown that it is both possible and necessary to differentiate between similar-but-different emotion concepts in a single language, e.g. English happy, pleased, satisfied, and across different languages, e.g. English disgust vs. German Ekel. Likewise, using English happy and happiness as examples, the author shows that the same word can vary in meaning across time. Considerable weight is placed on linguistic evidence such as usage patterns, collocational data, and phraseology.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners