Browsing results for Indo-European
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). On and on: Verbal explications for a polysemic network. Cognitive Linguistics, 13(3), 277-294. DOI: 10.1515/cogl.2002.019
The semantics of spatial prepositions has been much studied in cognitive linguistics, but not previously in terms in terms of verbal explication. This article analyzes prepositional on-constructions which concern the location of one physical object in relation to another (e.g., cup on the table, pendant on a chain, handle on the door, fins on its back), using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna Wierzbicka. Four semantically discrete categories are identified and each is assigned a verbal paraphrase (explication) framed in the metalanguage of semantic primes. The semantic interrelationships between these meanings are briefly explored.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Langford, Ian (2002). The semantics of crime: A linguistic analysis. PhD thesis, Australian National University.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 31, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Australian cultural scripts – bloody revisited. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(9), 1167-1209. DOI: 10.1016/S0378-2166(01)00023-6
This paper focusses on ‘‘the great Australian adjective’’ bloody and it shows that far from being meaningless, the humble bloody is packed with meaning; and that by unpacking this meaning we can throw a good deal of light on traditional Australian attitudes and values. It argues that the use of bloody furnishes an important clue to both the changes and continuity in Australian culture, society, and speech and also offers us a vantage point from which to investigate a whole network of Australian attitudes and values. Furthermore, the paper shows that the Australian use of bloody also illuminates some important theoretical issues, it demonstrates that frequently used and apparently ‘‘bleached’’ discourse markers do in fact have their own precise meaning, and that this meaning can be revealed by means of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), based on empirically established universal human concepts. It also shows that once the precise meaning of such discourse markers is accurately portrayed, it can provide important clues to the values, attitudes, and modes of interaction characteristic of a given society or speech community.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) battler, (E) bloody, (E) Fuck!, (E) fucking, (E) sarcasm, (S) anti-whinging, (S) being like others, (S) defiance / rebelliousness / larrikinism, (S) importance of sticking to the facts, (S) not abandoning a mate, (S) not being better than others, (S) spirit of defiance and rejection of social conventions, (S) use of sarcasm, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Stollznow, Karenina (2002). Terms of abuse in Australian English: A study of semantics and usage. BA(Hons) thesis, University of New England.
The purpose of this thesis is to present and justify semantic explications for seventeen abusive epithets commonly used in contemporary Australian English: wanker, smart arse, dickhead, fuckwit, drongo, yobbo, bludger, wowser, whinger, wuss, poofter, bimbo, bitch, slut, arsehole, prick and cunt. Although many of these words are often perceived as non-specific or vague terms, I aim to prove that each epithet has a distinct meaning and usage. These words have been chosen given their frequency in natural speech and within mediums such as newspapers, television, literature and the Internet. Furthermore, these terms are important in that they encode information about the Australian culture and people. Although prevalent in the lexicon of many Australian people, some of these terms are of a taboo nature and have been insufficiently treated academically.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) arsehole, (E) bimbo, (E) bitch, (E) bludger, (E) cunt, (E) dickhead, (E) drongo, (E) fuckwit, (E) poofter, (E) prick, (E) slut, (E) smart arse, (E) wanker, (E) whinger, (E) wowser, (E) wuss, (E) yobbo
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2018.
Hamid, Hazidi bin Haji Abdul (2002). Similar words, different meanings: A Natural Semantic Metalanguage exploration of cultural differences. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 2(1). PDF (open access)
Anna Wierbicka and other Natural Semantic Metalanguage (henceforth NSM) practitioners often argue that anthropologists and psychologists, particularly Western, are wrong for applying concepts like mind, anger and depression to foreign cultures because these cultures do not have words with similar intention and extensions. Their critics on the other hand argue that the NSM critique is unjustified because, while other cultures do not necessarily have similar words, they must have corresponding concepts simply because people in these other cultures, like in Malaysia, experience feelings like these. This paper intends to show that the NSM critique is justified because these corresponding concepts can be similar to a certain extent but can also carry great semantic difference when broken down to their more basic elements of meaning. More importantly, this is done using analysis of the Malay language.
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tags: (E) amok, (T) Malay
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Peeters, Bert (2002). Les constructions du type commencer un livre: état de la question et nouvelles perspectives [Constructions of the type commencer un livre: state of the art and new perspectives]. In Dominique Lagorgette, & Pierre Larrivée (Eds.), Représentations du sens linguistique (pp. 167-186). München: Lincom Europa.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 9, 2018.
Maher, Brigid (2002). Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory and some Italian speech act verbs. Studies in Pragmatics (Journal of the Pragmatics Society of Japan), 4, 33-48.
This paper examines some Italian speech act verbs, looking at how we can best express their meanings in an accurate way intelligible to people unfamiliar with Italian, but without falling into the trap of ethnocentrism. If we are to achieve a fruitful examination of speech act verbs, a framework for analysis is required, one that helps us to avoid the trap of ethnocentrism. The framework used in this paper is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory (or NSM). It is shown that even a relatively brief examination of some Italian speech act verbs can provide an insight into some semantic, pragmatic, and cultural aspects of the Italian language. Even two quite closely related languages, such as English and Italian, differ considerably in the kinds of speech acts they require, and it is important to understand the exact meanings of these speech acts. Looking at the semantic composition of speech act verbs piece by piece, avoiding any reliance on complex culture-specific concepts, we gain not only a clearer insight into their meanings, but also into how speech acts can reflect cultural practices.
The paper also includes a slightly revised explication of the Japanese word on.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) on 恩, (E) raccomandare, (E) raccomandarsi, (E) salutare, (T) Italian
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on September 3, 2018.
Asano, Yuko (2002). How to be indirect in Japanese – A cultural script approach. RASK (International Journal of Language and Communication), 17. 23-51. PDF (open access)
Although Japanese and English have a large variety of indirect expressions, they often use them in different proportions, which leads to different communicative styles. This paper investigates certain indirectness phenomena observed in sentence-final forms in Japanese from the perspective of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory. It combines NSM theory with Kamio’s theory of territory of information. Akio Kamio used this theory to specify the relationship between utterance forms and the notion of territory of information. As he points out, there are cases where the principles of the theory can be violated; it seems that such violations are more or less culturally determined. This paper particularly focuses on such cases and provides a cross-cultural analysis of Japanese and English, making use of contrastive data from both languages.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) directness, (S) indirectness
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 9, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). Directive speech acts in Malay (Bahasa Melayu): An ethnopragmatic perspective. Cahiers de praxématique, 38, 113-143.
The focus of the present study is the semantics and ethnopragmatics of a set of Malay speech act verbs. I hope to demonstrate that the lexical-semantic and cultural-pragmatic aspects of the analysis are mutually reinforcing and mutually informative. On the basis of cultural-pragmatic facts, I will discount polysemy for ajak ‘encourage, urge’ and pujuk ‘coax, comfort’, while lexical-semantic analysis of suruh ‘tell to do’ and minta ‘ask for’ will highlight the Malay cultural constraints against explicitly expressing the message ‘I want you to do this’. The conceptual structure and presuppositions of nasihat ‘advice, counsel’ will be shown to be strongly congruent with its characteristic forms of expression. In these and other ways, I hope to show not only that lexical semantics and cultural pragmatics are tightly intertwined in Malay, but also to illustrate the value of an ethnopragmatic approach to speech acts in general.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ajak, (E) ask, (E) minta, (E) nasihat, (E) order, (E) pesan, (E) pujuk, (E) suggest, (E) suruh, (S) inhibiting people from expressing explicit directive messages, (T) English + Malay
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Semantic primes and universal grammar in Polish. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar: Theory and empirical findings: Vol. 2 (pp. 65-144). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Russian cultural scripts: The theory of cultural scripts and its applications. Ethos, 30(4), 401-432.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.2002.30.4.401
Abstract:
Cultural scripts reflect shared cultural understandings. They are representations of cultural norms that are widely held in a given society and that are reflected in language (in culture-specific key words, phrases, conversational routines, and so on). A key methodological principle in the theory underlying this article (a study in ethnopragmatics avant la lettre) is that the proposed cultural scripts must be formulated in NSM. The author argues that cultural scripts formulated in universal human concepts allow us to understand cultural norms and attitudes from within, that is, from the perspective of cultural insiders, while at the same time making them intelligible to outsiders as well.
In this article, the theory of cultural scripts is applied to Russian culture and, in particular, the Russian cultural scripts concerning speech, truth, and interpersonal communication (“obščenie”).
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) govorit' nepravdu, (E) iskrenno, (E) istina, (E) sincerely, (E) truth, (S) bodily contact, (S) commands, (S) depth of feeling, (S) disagreement, (S) emphasis on verbal interaction, (S) freedom of expression, (S) physical closeness, (S) praise, (S) questions, (S) sincerity, (S) truth and untruth
Published on June 16, 2019. Last updated on June 25, 2019.
Вежбицкая, Анна [Wierzbicka, Anna] (2002). Русские культурные скрипты и их отражение в языке [Russian cultural scripts and their reflection in the language]. Русский язык в научном освещении, 2(4), 6-34.
More information:
Reissued as:
Вежбицкая, Анна (2005). Русские культурные скрипты и их отражение в языке. In Анна А. Зализняк, И.Б. Левонтина, А.Д. Шмелев (Eds.), ключевые идеи русской языковой картины мира [Key ideas of the Russian linguistic worldview] (pp. 467-499). Москва (Moscow): Языки славянских культур [Languages of Slavic Culture].
Chapter 11 (pp. …-…) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2011). Семантические универсалии и базисные концепты [Semantic universals and basic concepts]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки славянских культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (T) Russian
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 20, 2018.
Trnavac, Radoslava (2002). Koncept nade u srpskom jeziku u svetlu Prirodnog Semantickog Metajezika [The concept of hope in Serbian in the light of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage]. Zbornik Matice srpske za filologiju i lingvistiku, 45(1-2), 245-269.
Written in Serbian.
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Bułat Silva, Zuzanna (2002). Un intento de aplicación del metalenguaje semántico natural a las fórmulas de tratamiento españolas [An attempt at applying Natural Semantic Metalanguage to Spanish address forms]. Estudios hispánicos, 10, 61-68.
Written in Spanish.
A lot has been written on address forms from a pragmatic, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspective. This short study is an attempt at providing a semantic analysis of some of the factors that impact on the use of nominal address forms in Spanish. Semantic components, expressed in a Spanish-based NSM, are provided, but focus on what is conveyed by the address forms – cordiality, spontaneity, emotionality, irony, machismo, etc. – as opposed to what specific address forms stand for.
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tags: (T) Spanish
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Travis, Catherine (2002). La Metalengua Semántica Natural: The Natural Semantic Metalanguage of Spanish. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar: Theory and empirical findings, vol.1 (pp. 173-242). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.60.11tra
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Peeters, Bert (2003). The tall poppy syndrome: On the re-emergence in contemporary Australia of an Ancient Greek and Latin motive. Classicvm, 29(2), 22-26.
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on January 26, 2020.
Amberber, Mengistu (2003). The grammatical encoding of “thinking” in Amharic. Cognitive Linguistics, 14(2/3), 195-219.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2003.00
Abstract:
The lexical exponents of the conceptual primitives THINK and KNOW in Amharic are assəbə and awwək’ə respectively. The article investigates issues of polysemy involving the two mental predicates and explores their lexical elaboration and morphosyntactic realization. The article also briefly examines constructions based on verbs equivalent to the English term understand.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) understand
Published on May 22, 2018. Last updated on August 20, 2018.
van Baalen, Christine (2003). Neerlandistiek zonder grenzen: Over het nut van crossculturele taalanalyses [Dutch studies without borders: On the usefulness of cross-cultural language analyses]. Colloquium Neerlandicum, 15, 13-22. PDF (open access)
To gain intercultural competence, one must learn to look beyond the confines of one’s own language by studying it in contrast with other languages. This contribution aims to illustrate this idea. First, I delve into the concept of ‘intercultural competence’. Next, I show how intercultural competence in language teaching can be promoted by means of cross-cultural language analyses. The usefulness of such analyses is demonstrated by means of a cultural key word, on one hand, and a buzz word, on the other.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) gezellig
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Nicholls, Sophie (2003). The semantics of pain and suffering. BA(Hons) thesis, University of New England.
What exactly do we mean when we say ‘it hurts’, complain of ‘aches and pains’, or speak of ‘suffering’ and ‘agony’? Despite their importance to physiology and to philosophy, surprisingly little lexical semantic analysis has been done on the English “lexicon of pain”. Common problems in defining these terms include: the negotiation of any division between ‘emotional’ and ‘physical’ pain, and also the creation of a hermeneutical cycle by defining ‘pain’ concepts in terms of each other. It is also clear that “pain-like” concepts differ significantly across languages, but to study cross-linguistic variation with precision, we first need clear and precise definitions of the English terms.
My aim is to present and justify explications for English word pain and a set of fourteen related words , ache, sore, hurt, suffering, agony, sharp pain, shooting pain, burning pain, stinging pain, twinge of pain, headache, toothache, stomachache, and earache. I will do this working within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage framework developed by Anna Wierzbicka and colleagues. For each of these terms I will examine current definitions and etymology, and I will present examples of usage and discussion of each proposed explication. The discussion will be used to compare semantic components of the explications, and to clearly expound the meanings and functions of these words.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on January 26, 2020.
Goddard, Cliff (2003). Yes or no? The complex semantics of a simple question. In Peter Collins, & Mengistu Amberber (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2002 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. Online.
PDF (open access)
Abstract:
This short paper investigates the semantics of yes/no questions, using the reductive paraphrase methodology of the NSM approach. It is shown that the apparent simplicity of yes/no questions is illusory, and that yes/no questions can be decomposed – both semantically and syntactically – into simpler structures.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) don't know if, (E) yes-no questions
