Browsing results for German
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 11, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Talking about emotions: Semantics, culture, and cognition. Cognition and Emotion, 6(3/4), 285-319. DOI: 10.1080/02699939208411073
Translated into Polish as chapter 4 of:
Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
The author argues that the so-called “basic emotions”, such as happiness, fear or anger, are in fact cultural artifacts of the English language, just as the Ilongot concept of liger, or the Ifaluk concept of song, are the cultural artifacts of Ilongot and Ifaluk. It is therefore as inappropriate to talk about human emotions in general in terms of happiness, fear, or anger as it would be to talk about them in terms of liget or song. However, this does not mean that we cannot penetrate into the emotional world of speakers of languages other than our own. Nor does it mean that there cannot be any universal human emotions. Universality of emotions is an open issue which requires further investigation. For this further investigation to be fully productive, it has to be undertaken from a universal, language and culture-independent perspective; and it has to be carried out in a universalist framework that is language and culture-independent. The author proposes for this purpose the Natural Semantic Metalanguage based on universal (or near-universal) semantic primitives (or near-primitives), developed over two decades by herself and colleagues, and she argues that the use of this metalanguage facilitates such a perspective and offers such a framework.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) angry, (E) displeased, (E) displeasure, (E) glücklich, (E) grateful, (E) happy, (E) heureux, (E) joy, (E) liget, (E) pleased, (E) remorse, (E) sad, (E) song, (E) tjituru-tjituru, (E) watjilpa, (E) złość
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on January 22, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Defining emotion concepts. Cognitive Science, 16(4), 539-581. DOI: 10.1207/s15516709cog1604_4
This article demonstrates that emotion concepts – including the so-called basic ones, such as anger or sadness – can be defined in terms of universal semantic primitives such as GOOD, BAD, DO, HAPPEN, KNOW, and WANT, in terms of which all areas of meaning, in all languages, can be rigorously and revealingly portrayed.
The definitions proposed here take the form of certain prototypical scripts or scenarios, formulated in terms of thoughts, wants, and feelings. These scripts, however, can be seen as formulas providing rigorous specifications of necessary and sufficient conditions (not for emotions as such, but for emotion concepts), and they do not support the idea that boundaries between emotion concepts are “fuzzy”. On the contrary, the small set of universal semantic primitives employed here (which has emerged from two decades of empirical investigations by the author and colleagues) demonstrates that even apparent synonyms such as sad and unhappy embody different – and fully specifiable – conceptual structures.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) amazement, (E) anger, (E) appalled, (E) ashamed, (E) contented, (E) delighted, (E) depressed, (E) despair, (E) disappointment, (E) distressed, (E) embarrassed, (E) excited, (E) frightened, (E) frustration, (E) glücklich, (E) grief, (E) guilt, (E) happy, (E) heureux, (E) humiliated, (E) hurt, (E) indignant, (E) indignation, (E) pleased, (E) pride, (E) relief, (E) remorse, (E) sad, (E) sčastliv, (E) shocked, (E) sorrow, (E) sorry, (E) surprise, (E) triumph, (E) unhappy, (E) upset, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 20, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1995). Lexicon as a key to history, culture, and society: “Homeland” and “fatherland” in German, Polish and Russian. In René Dirven, & Johan Vanparys (Eds.), Current approaches to the lexicon (pp. 103-155). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Abstract:
Since many languages, especially European languages, have words denoting ‘native country’, the concepts embodied in these words may be assumed to transcend language boundaries. In fact, words that appear to match in this way are laden with historical and cultural significance, and often differ from one another in particularly telling ways, offering valuable insight into different national traditions and historical experiences. This general proposition is illustrated here through an analysis and comparison of three cultural key words of modern German and Polish: Heimat, Vaterland, and ojczyzna. A cursory discussion of the Russian word rodina is also included.
In addition to universals, the explications rely on the words country, born, and child. These words (referred to in later work as semantic molecules) can be defined in terms of the universals, but to do so within the explications of such complex cultural concepts as Heimat, Vaterland, ojczyzna, and rodina would be confusing and counterproductive.
Translations:
Into Polish:
Chapter 12 (pp. 450-489) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1999), Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
More information:
A more recent publication building on this one is:
Chapter 4 (pp. 156-197) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1997), Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) Heimat, (E) ojczyzna, (E) rodina, (E) Vaterland
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on March 13, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1995). Dictionaries and ideologies: Three examples from Eastern Europe. In Braj B. Kachru, & Henry Kahane (Eds.), Cultures, ideologies and the dictionary: Studies in honor of Ladislav Zgusta (pp. 181-195). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
This paper considers three lexicographic definitions from three Eastern European dictionaries, produced under communist rule. In each case, the word under discussion presents ideological difficulties for the dictionary’s editors — either because its meaning is politically incorrect, i.e. reflects an outlook incompatible with the official communist ideology, or because it is politically sensitive, and can be used as a potent ideological tool in both desirable and undesirable political contexts.
Each of the three definitions concerns a keyword, that is, a word especially important in the life of the society in question and reflecting this society’s experience and values. The three keywords discussed are the German word Vaterland (roughly, ‘fatherland’), the Russian word smirenie (roughly, ‘humility’, ‘resignation’) and the Polish word bezpieka (roughly, ‘state security’).
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) bezpieka, (E) smirenie, (E) Vaterland
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Durst, Uwe (1996). Distinktive Synonymik der Präpositionen ‘aus’ und ‘vor’ in “kausaler” Verwendung [The distinctive synonymym of the German prepositions ‘aus’ and ‘vor’ in their “causative” use]. MA thesis (Magisterarbeit), Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.
Published on November 22, 2017. Last updated on May 1, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Między modlitwą a przekleństwem: O Jezu! i podobne wyrażenia na tle porównawczym [Between praying and swearing: A comparative study of Jesus! and other expressions]. Etnolingwistyka, 8, pp. 25-39.
Abstract:
Interjections such as Polish Mój Boże (‘Oh, my God!’), O Jezu (‘Jesus!’) or Matko Boska! (lit. ‘Oh, Virgin Mary!’) are usually neglected in descriptions of language for being “marginal” or “semantically empty” (or both at once). In this paper, these expressions are treated with due attention and a rich analysable semantics is attributed to them. A detailed comparison of Polish Mój Boże! and German Mein Gott illustrates the differences in the range of emotions present in each of the two expressions. It also indicates the need to conduct detailed comparative research on apparently equivalent interjections in various languages.
More information:
Written in Polish.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) Boże!, (E) Chryste Panie!, (E) Jezus Maria!, (E) Matko Boska!, (E) Mein Gott!, (E) Mój Boże!, (E) O Boże!, (E) O Jezu!
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 20, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1997). Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese. New York: Oxford University Press.
Abstract:
This book develops the dual themes that languages can differ widely in their vocabularies, and are sensitive indices to the cultures to which they belong. The author seeks to demonstrate that every language has key concepts, expressed in (cultural) key words, which reflect the core values of a given culture. She shows that cultures can be revealingly studied, compared, and explained to outsiders through their key concepts, and that NSM provides the analytical framework necessary for this purpose. The book demonstrates that cultural patterns can be studied in a verifiable, rigorous, and non-speculative way, on the basis of empirical evidence and in a coherent theoretical framework.
Table of contents:
- Introduction
- Lexicon as a key to ethno-sociology and cultural psychology: Patterns of “friendship” across cultures
- Lexicon as a key to ethno-philosophy, history, and politics: “Freedom” in Latin, English, Russian, and Polish
- Lexicon as a key to history, nation, and society: “Homeland” and “fatherland” in German, Polish, and Russian
- Australian key words and core cultural values
- Japanese key words and core cultural values
Translations:
Into Polish:
(Chapter 3 only) Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2007). Słowa klucze: Różne języki – różne kultury. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.
Into Russian (Chapters 1, 2 and 3 only):
Chapters 7 (pp. 263-305), 8 (pp. 306-433) and 9 (pp. 434-484) of Вежбицкая, Анна (1999), Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].
Вежбицкая, Анна (2001). Понимание культур через посредство ключевых слов. Москва [Moscow]: Языки славянской культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].
Into Japanese:
アンナ・ヴィエルジュビツカ著 [Anna Wierzbicka] (2009). キーワードによる異文化理解: 英語・ロシア語・ポーランド語・ 日本語の場合 . 東京 [Tokyo]: 而立書房 [Jiritsu Shobō].
More information:
Chapter 4 builds on: Lexicon as a key to history, culture, and society: “Homeland” and “fatherland” in German, Polish and Russian (1995)
Chapter 5, section 2 builds on: Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction (1991), chapter 5
Chapter 5, section 3 builds on: Australian b-words (bloody, bastard, bugger, bullshit): An expression of Australian culture and national character (1992)
Chapter 6 builds on: Japanese key words and core cultural values (1991)
Reviewed by:
Peeters, Bert (2000). Word, 51(3), 443-449. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2000.11432505 / Open access
This review includes several suggestions for improvements to the explications in the book, as well as a revised explication of the Russian word друг drug.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
The tags mentioned below are limited to those not listed in work on which this book is based.
Tags: (E) colleagues, (E) drug друг, (E) family, (E) freedom, (E) friend, (E) koledzy, (E) libertas, (E) liberty, (E) mate, (E) omoiyari 思いやり, (E) podruga подруга, (E) prijatel' приятель, (E) przyjaciel, (E) rodnye родные, (E) rodzina, (E) svoboda свобода, (E) tovarišč, (E) volja воля, (E) wolność, (E) znajomi, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). German ‘cultural scripts’: Public signs as a key to social attitudes and cultural values. Discourse & Society, 9(2), 241-282.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926598009002006
Abstract:
This paper is based on the following set of assumptions:
- ways of speaking characteristic of a given speech community constitute a manifestation of a tacit system of ‘cultural rules’ or ‘cultural scripts’;
- to understand a society’s ways of speaking, we have to identify and articulate its implicit cultural scripts;
- to be able to do this without ethnocentric bias we need a universal, language-independent perspective; and
- this can be attained if the ‘rules’ in question are stated in terms of lexical universals, that is, universal human concepts lexicalized in all languages of the world.
This paper applies the cultural script approach to German and compares German norms with Anglo norms (that is, norms prevailing in English-speaking societies). The author notes that, in recent decades, great changes have undoubtedly occurred in German ways of speaking and, it can be presumed, in underlying cultural values. For example, the dramatic spread of the use of the “familiar” form of address (du, as opposed to Sie), and the decline in the use of titles (e.g., Herr Müller instead of Prof. Müller) point to significant changes in interpersonal relations, in the direction of more egalitarian informality. At the same time, evidence of contemporary public signs, which are discussed here, suggests that some traditional German values, like the value of social discipline and of Ordnung (order) based on legitimate authority, are far from obsolete. It is shown that, in studying such values, we can rely on concepts more precise and more illuminating than ‘authoritarianism’ or ‘authoritarian personality’, often used in the past in analyses of German culture and society, and that the cultural scripts approach offers a rigorous and efficient tool for studying change and variation, as well as continuity, in social attitudes and cultural values.
Above all, rather than perpetuating stereotypes based on prejudice and lack of understanding, cultural scripts help outsiders grasp the ‘cultural logic’ underlying unfamiliar ways of speaking that may otherwise look like a strange collection of idiosyncracies — or worse.
Translations:
Into Russian:
Chapter 15 (pp. 682-729) of Вежбицкая, Анна (1999), Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].
Chapter 4 (pp. 159-217) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2001), Сопоставление культур через посредство лексики и прагматики [Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки Славянской Культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) (imperative constructions), (E) (infinitive-as-imperative constructions), (E) Achtung!, (E) bitte, (E) dürfen, (E) important, (E) nicht gestattet, (E) no [verb]ing, (E) verboten, (S) personal authority
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on December 8, 2019.
Durst, Uwe (2001). Why Germans don’t feel “anger”. In Jean Harkins, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 119-152). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110880168.115
There is no German word that perfectly matches the English word anger, and none of the German words Ärger, Wut, and Zorn has a clear counterpart in English. Each of the German words has a meaning that is somewhat different, and there is no evidence for the “basicness” of one of these words. To grasp their meanings and to be able to compare them and to define them, we have to submit each word to a detailed semantic analysis.
In this paper, the lexical items Ärger, Wut, and Zorn, which constitute the most frequent and most common ‘anger’ words in German, are subjected to semantic and comparative investigation. The analysis is given within the theoretical framework of the NSM approach to semantics, which has turned out to be a most useful way to gain suitable results for this task.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) Ärger, (E) sich ärgern, (E) Wut, (E) Zorn
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 6, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). English causative constructions in an ethnosyntactic perspective: Focusing on LET. In Nick Enfield (Ed.), Ethnosyntax (pp. 162-203). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199266500.003.0008
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 6 (pp. 171-203) of:
Wierzbicka, Anna (2006). English: Meaning and culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
This chapter focuses on one area of ‘cultural elaboration’ in grammar, namely, on the elaboration of causal relations in modern English. Topics discussed include causation and patterns of social interaction, Natural Semantic Metalanguage as a tool for studying ethnosyntax, the meaning of causatives in a cross-linguistic perspective, German lassen constructions, and English let constructions, and comparison of Russian and German.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) lassen, (E) let, (T) English
Published on May 19, 2019. Last updated on May 19, 2019.
Deka, Sebastian (2006). O metodzie wyodrębniania skryptów kulturowych i kilku skryptach niemieckich i polskich [About the method of extracting cultural scripts, with several German and Polish scripts]. Oblicza Komunikacji, 1, 164–179.
More information:
Written in Polish.
Published on June 27, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Koselak, Arkadiusz (2008). Cette personne a quelque chose que je n’ai pas: une approche contrastive de réactions du type de jalousie [This person has something I do not have: A contrastive approach of jealousy-type reactions]. In Jacques Durand, Benoît Habert & Bernard Laks (Eds.), CMLF 2008 – Congrès mondial de linguistique française (pp. 2085-2100). Paris: EDP Sciences. DOI: 10.1051/cmlf08050. PDF (open access)
Written in French.
The author analyses the French words jalousie ‘jealousy’ and envie ‘envy’ as well as some of their counterparts in Polish, Swedish, German and English. The aim of this Wierzbickian inspired study is to discover differences in conceptualization and to present them schematically.
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tags: (E) envie, (E) envy, (E) jalousie, (E) missunnsamhet, (E) Schadenfreude, (E) zawiść, (E) zazdrość
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 1, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2014). “Pain” and “suffering” in cross-linguistic perspective. International Journal of Language and Culture, 1(2), 149-173.
DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.1.2.02wie
Abstract:
This paper builds on findings of the author’s 1999 book Emotions Across Languages and Cultures: Diversity and Universals, which tentatively identified eleven universals pertaining to human emotions. The paper probes some of those “emotional universals” further, especially in relation to ‘laughing’, ‘crying’, and ‘pain’. At the same time, the author continues her campaign against pseudo-universals, focusing in particular on the anthropological and philosophical discourse of “suffering”. The paper argues for the Christian origins of the concept of “suffering” lexically embodied in European languages, and contrasts it with the Buddhist concept of ‘dukkha’, usually rendered in Anglophone discussions of Buddhism with the word suffering.
More information:
Reissued as:
Wierzbicka, Anna (2016). “Pain” and “suffering” in cross-linguistic perspective. In Cliff Goddard & Zhengdao Ye (Eds.), “Happiness” and “pain” across languages and cultures (pp. 19-43). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/bct.84.02wie
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) cry, (E) douleur, (E) dukkha, (E) feel pain, (E) laugh, (E) suffer, (E) suffering, (E) weinen, (E) xiào 笑
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 7, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2014). On “disgust”. In Fabienne Baider, & Georgeta Cislaru (Eds.), Linguistic approaches to emotions in context (pp. 73-97). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DOI: 10.1075/pbns.241.06god
Abstract:
This study relies on the NSM approach to explore conceptualisations of “disgust” in English via semantic analysis of descriptive adjectives (disgusted and disgusting) and interjections (Ugh! and Yuck!). As well as drawing out some subtle meaning differences between these expressions, the exercise establishes that there is no one-to-one mapping between the meanings of descriptive emotion lexemes, on the one hand, and expressive interjections, on the other.
More broadly, the study seeks to advance the semantic study of “disgust-like” concepts in a cross-linguistic perspective, first, by highlighting aspects of meaning that differ between the English expressions and their near-equivalents in other languages, such as German, French and Polish, and second, by proposing a set of touchstone semantic components that can help facilitate cross-linguistic investigation.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) disgusted, (E) disgusting, (E) Fu!, (E) pleased, (E) sad, (E) Ugh!, (E) Yuck!
Published on August 7, 2017. Last updated on September 1, 2018.
Cramer, Rahel K. (2015). Why Australians seem “laid-back” and Germans rather “serious”: A contrastive semantic and ethnopragmatic analysis of Australian English and German, with implications for second language pedagogy. MA thesis, Hamburg University. PDF (open access)
This study aims to explore manifestations of cultural characteristics in spoken conversational Australian English and German to reveal the relation between cultural values and ways of speaking and to facilitate their understanding, in particular for second language learners. It is a two-part contrastive analysis. Part One gives a cultural overview by identifying macro-concepts of the two speech communities (‘Ordnung’ and ‘Angst’ for the German culture; the ‘no worries’ attitude, ‘friendliness’ and ‘good humour’ for the Australian culture). Part Two provides a detailed semantic and pragmatic analysis of micro-concepts, which includes a section on social descriptor terms (laid back, relaxed and easy going in Australian English; locker and sympathisch in German) and a section on conversational ideals (anregend and ernsthaft in German; friendly and not too serious in Australian English). The methodological approach is a combination of corpus linguistics and the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). The findings from this analysis are considered in relation to their applicability to and usefulness for second language pedagogy.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) Alles in Ordnung, (E) anregend, (E) easy going, (E) ernsthaft, (E) friendly, (E) laid back, (E) locker, (E) no worries, (E) relaxed, (E) się, (E) sympathisch, (E) take [...] too seriously, (S) serious conversation, (S) social interaction, (S) stimulating conversationh, (S) take [...] too seriously, (T) German
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2015). Can there be common knowledge without a common language? German Pflicht versus English duty. Common Knowledge, 21(1), 141-171. DOI: 10.1215/0961754X-2818482
Published on April 4, 2018. Last updated on August 16, 2021.
Eisold, Lisa (2015). Fernweh as a cultural key word: A cross-cultural linguistic analysis using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Munich: GRIN.
Seminar paper in cross-cultural linguistics submitted at the University of Newcastle (AUS). Grade: High Distinction, 92%. Commercially available at https://www.grin.com/document/336516
Fernweh functions as a cultural key word for a whole generation of young Germans travelling the world. This short linguistic analysis examines the meanings and connotations of Fernweh, attempting to make the concept accessible to non-German speakers. Work and travel, au pair, semester abroad: more and more young Germans leave their home country to spend up to one year abroad. The more remote a destination, the more appealing the trip. This often leaves the older generations speechless. The young people’s urge to travel can be best described with the key word Fernweh, a feeling that lacks an adequate English translation. The English word wanderlust that can be found in dictionaries fails to account for the complete scope of the feeling of Fernweh as it emphasizes that the longing to travel is only a temporary one. Furthermore, the root lust suggests a strongly positive feeling. Fernweh, in contrast, not only can be triggered and answered in many different ways but also encompasses a high diversity of things someone might be longing for and a high range of feelings connected to this longing.
Tags: (E) Fernweh
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on September 1, 2018.
Cramer, Rahel (2015). German Ordnung: A semantic and ethnopragmatic analysis of a core cultural value. International Journal of Language and Culture, 2(2), 269-293. DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.2.2.06cra
This study aims to illustrate the intricate connections that exist between features of a certain language and underlying culture-specific conceptualizations. The analysis sheds new light on a German cultural core value, namely, Ordnung ‘order’, its relationship to other cultural themes, and the influence it exerts on German interpersonal style. To allow for a better understanding of the German core value Ordnung ‘order’ as it relates to other German cultural themes, the study first provides an analysis of the common expressions alles (ist) in Ordnung ‘everything [is] in order’ and Ordnung muss sein ‘there has to be order’. This will be followed by an analysis of the social descriptor term locker ‘loose’. The paper seeks to illustrate the merits of a perspective in language and culture studies that is truly culture-internal and can thus facilitate cross-cultural understanding, and it does so by applying the principles of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach
to semantic and ethnopragmatic description.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) locker, (E) Ordnung
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2015). A whole cloud of culture condensed into a drop of semantics: The meaning of the German word Herr as a term of address. International Journal of Language and Culture, 2(1), 1-37. DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.2.1.01wie
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Goddard, Cliff, Wierzbicka, Anna, & Wong, Jock (2016). “Walking” and “running” in English and German: The conceptual semantics of verbs of human locomotion. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 14(2), 303–336. DOI: 10.1075/rcl.14.2.03god
This study examines the conceptual semantics of human locomotion verbs in two languages – English and German – using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. Based on linguistic evidence, it proposes semantic explications for English walk and run, and their nearest counterparts in German, i.e. laufen (in two senses, roughly, ‘run’ and ‘go by walking’), rennen (roughly, ‘run quickly’), gehen (roughly, ‘go/walk’), and the expression zu Fuß gehen (roughly, ‘go on foot’). Somewhat surprisingly for such closely related languages, the conceptual semantics turns out to be significantly different in the two languages, particularly in relation to manner-of-motion. On the other hand, it is shown that the same four-part semantic template (with sections Lexicosyntactic Frame, Prototypical Scenario, Manner, and Potential Outcome) applies in both languages. We consider the implications for systematic contrastive semantics and for lexical typology.
contrastive semantics; conceptual semantics; lexical polysemy; manner; verbs of motion; semantic template; Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM)
