Browsing results for Spanish (Latin America)

(1998) Spanish – BUENO

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

Travis, Catherine (1998). Bueno: A Spanish interactive discourse marker. In Benjamin K. Bergen, Madelaine C. Plauché, & Ashlee C. Bailey (Eds.), Proceedings of the twenty-fourth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General session and parasession on phonetics and phonological universals (pp. 268-279). Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society. DOI: 10.3765/bls.v24i1.1222. PDF (open access)

This paper presents a semantic analysis of the Spanish discourse marker bueno (something similar to ‘well’, ‘OK’, ‘alright’ in English). Four discourse functions of bueno are identified and discussed. On the basis of these functions, it is suggested that bueno is polysemous, and following the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach, two definitions to account for its range of use are proposed. It is argued that these definitions reflect the way in which the meaning of the discourse marker bueno is related to the adjective bueno, meaning ‘good’. Finally, we consider the role bueno may play in the communicative realization of the norms and values of the cultures in which it is used.

 

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(2002) Spanish – NSM primes, NSM syntax

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

(2003) Spanish – Subjunctive

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Travis, Catherine (2003). The semantics of the Spanish subjunctive: Its use in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Cognitive Linguistics 14(1). 47-69. DOI: 10.1515/cogl.2003.002

This article presents an analysis of the Spanish subjunctive as it is used in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) of Spanish. One of the tenets of the NSM approach, as developed by Wierzbicka and colleagues, is its universality: that the lexicon and the syntactic patterns that comprise the metalanguage are found in all languages of the world. The use of the subjunctive in the NSM of Spanish potentially threatens the proposed “universal grammar” of NSM, as this form is not found in all languages and has a language-specific meaning. Following a discussion of the semantics of this form, I will consider the environments in which the subjunctive is used in the NSM of Spanish, namely with WANT (querer) with non-coreferential subjects, MAYBE (tal vez), NOT THINK (no pensar), and NOT KNOW (no saber). I will show that with WANT (querer) and NOT THINK (no pensar), the subjunctive does not encode a language-specific meaning, but is used to “index” a notion inherent in the proposition with which it occurs. With MAYBE (tal vez) and NOT KNOW (no saber), on the other hand, I will argue that the subjunctive does encode a language-specific meaning, and is therefore a more marked choice in these environments. The analysis shows that different syntactic structures across languages can be semantically equivalent, and the NSM notion of a “universal grammar” is supported.

(2004) Spanish (Colombia) – Diminutives

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 3, 2018.

Travis, Catherine. E. (2004). The ethnopragmatics of the diminutive in conversational Colombian Spanish. Intercultural Pragmatics 1(2). 249-274. DOI: 10.1515/iprg.2004.1.2.249

This paper considers the cultural values manifested in the use of the diminutive suffix -ito/-ita in a corpus of conversational Colombian Spanish. It will be demonstrated that this suffix is highly frequent (occurring approximately 600 times in the 70,000-word corpus), and that from its core uses in relation to children and expressing small size it has taken on the pragmatic functions of expressing affection, hedging speech acts and expressing contempt.

Wierzbicka has shown that the frequent use of the diminutive in languages such as Russian and Polish plays a valuable role in realizing the cultural goal of the expression of good feelings towards others. The same can be said of its use in Colombian Spanish, but analysis of the diminutive in conversation reveals that it goes beyond this to realize a range of essential cultural ideals in interaction. Based on a semantic analysis of some of the central uses of the diminutive, I propose a set of cultural scripts to capture the role played by the diminutive in a variety of speech events, scripts which form an important part of the basis for interaction in Colombian society.

(2005) Spanish (Colombia) – Discourse particles: BUENO, PUES, O SEA, ENTONCES

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on October 18, 2018.

Travis, Catherine E. (2005). Discourse markers in Colombian Spanish: A study in polysemy. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

This book, a revised version of the author’s PhD thesis (Latrobe University, Melbourne, 2001) presents a semantic analysis of a set of four functionally related discourse particles that are particularly frequent in conversational Colombian Spanish. A corpus of four hours of spontaneous conversation is used to study the markers bueno ‘well, OK’, pues ‘well, then’, o sea ‘I mean, that is to say’ and entonces ‘so, then’.

Through a detailed analysis of numerous examples drawn from the corpus, and employing both quantitative and qualitative techniques, it is demonstrated that, contrary to popular belief, discourse particles are not just functional particles with indeterminate or context-based semantics. Rather, they have inherent meanings that can be identified and exhaustively defined with an appropriate semantic methodology, such as is provided by the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. This study illustrates that this approach, which has been widely applied to the semantics of the lexicon and the grammar, can be extended to the semantics of discourse-based features, supporting the notion that meaning of all aspects of language forms one semantic system. The author proposes four different meanings for bueno, three related meanings for o sea, three core meanings for entonces, and two-way polysemy for pues.

The research reported here also has implications for the study of polysemy, in that it operationalizes the little understood, but classical definition of polysemy of items with “a shared element of meaning”, and it demonstrates that the polysemous relations of discourse markers are centered around an invariant core that can be identified on the basis of their use in discourse. As one of the first corpus-based studies to present a semantic account of the multifunctional nature of discourse markers this book makes an important contribution to research on the relationship between semantics and discourse-pragmatics, and polysemy in discourse.


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(2006) Spanish (Colombia) – Discourse particles: BUENO

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 15, 2018.

Travis, Catherine E. (2006). The Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach to discourse markers. In Kerstin Fischer (Ed.), Approaches to discourse particles (pp. 219-241). Oxford: Elsevier.

This paper presents an analysis of discourse markers based within the framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (Wierzbicka, 1996; and references therein). It argues that discourse markers can only be fully understood if the meaning(s) they carry when used in different contexts are exhaustively defined. Within this framework, discourse markers are treated as polysemous, having a range of different meanings all of which share some element in common. The shared element of meaning can be considered a partial semantic invariant, and it is this that ties the uses of the marker together, while other components of meaning that differ account for the variation across the range of use. Such an analysis makes a clear distinction between what is encoded in the semantics of the marker and what is encoded in its pragmatics of use. I will illustrate how this can be done through an analysis of the Spanish discourse marker bueno (‘well’, ‘good’, ‘right’), based on a corpus of conversational Colombian Spanish.


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(2006) Spanish (Colombia) – Terms of endearment, CONFIANZA, CALOR HUMANO

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 3, 2018.

Travis, Catherine E. (2006). The communicative realisation of confianza and calor humano in Colombian Spanish. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Ethnopragmatics: Understanding discourse in cultural context (pp. 199-229). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110911114.199

Interactional norms and practices are indicative of ways of thinking and of underlying cultural ideals. In this study, I focus on the widespread use of terms of endearment in Colombian Spanish and consider this linguistic practice in terms of the cultural model for relationships in Colombia. The use of terms of endearment such as mi amor ‘my love’, gordo ‘fatty’, fictive mamita ‘mummy’ and papito ‘daddy’ and so on reflects the high value Colombian culture places on displaying affection for others, and on verbally affirming the ties that exist in relationships. Similar ideals are evident in the extensive use of the diminutive, manipulation of the second-person singular pronoun system, complex greeting and leave-taking routines, and so on, some of which are briefly dealt with.

The cultural model is also represented in certain cultural key words, in particular in the terms confianza ‘trust’, calor humano ‘human warmth’ and vínculos ‘bonds’. Through a semantic analysis of these key words, and through a discourse-based analysis of the use of terms of endearment, I propose a set of cultural scripts that outline some of the ideals for interaction in Colombian society, in accordance with a cultural model for how to maintain good relations with others.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2011) Maya – Emotions and body parts

Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on August 16, 2021.

Bourdin, Gabriel Luis (2011). Partes del cuerpo e incorporación nominal en expresiones emocionales mayas [Body parts and nominal incorporation in Maya emotional expressions]. Dimensión antropológica, 51, 103-130. PDF (open access)

This paper relates to the expression of emotions in colonial Yucatec Maya. NSM is used on just one occasion, to explicate the Spanish word miedo ‘fear’.

(2011) Semantic analysis: A practical introduction [BOOK]

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.

Goddard, Cliff (2011). Semantic analysis: A practical introduction. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Revised and expanded version of:

Goddard, Cliff (1998). Semantic analysis: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The summary below reflects the contents of the second edition.

This lively textbook introduces students and scholars to practical and precise methods for articulating the meanings of words and sentences, and for revealing connections between language and culture. Topics range over emotions (Chapter 4), speech acts (Chapter 5), discourse particles and interjections (Chapter 6), words for animals and artefacts (Chapter 7), motion verbs (Chapter 8), physical activity verbs (Chapter 9), causatives (Chapter 10), and nonverbal communication. Alongside English, it features a wide range of other languages, including Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, and Australian Aboriginal languages. Undergraduates, graduate students and professional linguists alike will benefit from Goddard’s wide-ranging summaries, clear explanations and analytical depth. Meaning is fundamental to language and linguistics. This book shows that the study of meaning can be rigorous, insightful and exciting.


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(2014) Spanish (Latin America) – Emotions / Feelings

Published on August 17, 2018. Last updated on May 1, 2019.

Bułat Silva, Zuzanna (2014). Some remarks on “pain” in Latin American Spanish. International Journal of Language and Culture, 1(2), 239-252.

DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.1.2.06bul

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to examine the Spanish counterpart of pain, that is, the lexeme dolor. It seems that dolor, different from both English pain and French douleur, has two clearly distinguishable meanings, dolor1 referring to physical (and emotional) sensation of pain, and dolor2, a quite frequent emotion term belonging to the domain of “sadness”. To support the above hypothesis, this article examines different lexical occurrences of the word dolor, coming inter alia from tango lyrics.

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Bułat Silva, Zuzanna (2016). Some remarks on “pain” in Latin American Spanish. In Cliff Goddard & Zhengdao Ye (Eds.), “Happiness” and “pain” across languages and cultures (pp. 109-122). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/bct.84.06bul

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(2016) Spanish (Latin America) – Visual semantics

Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on May 24, 2019.

Aragón, Karime (2016). Mexican colors and meanings: An ethnolinguistic study of visual semantics in Oaxaca. In Geda Paulsen, Mari Uusküla, & Jonathan Brindle (Eds.), Color language and color categorization (pp. 302-332). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

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This study explores the meanings of Mexican Spanish colour words using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Visual meanings are associated with widespread natural and material prototypes identified in the speaker’s cultural and environmental contexts. The results of the ethnolinguistic fieldwork reveal the visual meanings embedded in Mexican Spanish colour terms and their prototypes, illustrating the way Oaxacans think and talk about colour and account for the specifics of their visual and cultural practices.

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(2017) Spanish (Mexico) – Colours and vision / Cultural key words / Ethnopragmatics

Published on October 15, 2017. Last updated on June 17, 2019.

Aragón, Karime (2017). Visuality, identity and emotion: Rosa mexicano as a Mexican Spanish keyword. In Carsten Levisen & Sophia Waters (Eds.), Cultural keywords in discourse (pp. 131-156). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.277.06ara

Abstract:

This chapter presents a semantic and ethnopragmatic analysis of the Mexican Spanish colour word rosa mexicano. This word functions as a symbol of Mexican identity and serves as a cultural key word for Mexican Spanish speakers. It appears in a variety of discourses, such as international and cross-cultural relations, the arts, education and discursive representations of national self-perception. After providing a semantic analysis of the meaning of the word, the chapter moves on to an ethnopragmatic examination, articulating cultural scripts for the visual, identificational and emotional meanings associated with rosa mexicano discourse.

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(2020) Spanish – Interpersonal Closeness

Published on November 22, 2020. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

Fernández, Susana S. & Cliff Goddard. (2020).  Una aproximación al estilo comunicativo de cercanía interpersonal del español a partir de la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural [An Approach to the Spanish Communicative Style of Interpersonal Closeness from the Theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage]. Pragmática Sociocultural / Sociocultural Pragmatics, 7(3), 469-493.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/soprag-2019-0022 (Open Access)

Resumen:

El presente artículo discute un estilo comunicativo típico de muchos hispanohablantes, que a menudo ha sido caracterizado en la literatura sobre pragmática y comunicación intercultural como de cercanía interpersonal y de confianza. El punto de partida teórico y metodológico es la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural (NSM, por sus siglas en inglés), que propone el uso de un minivocabulario de conceptos básicos para explicar otros más com- plejos. En este caso, presentamos descripciones (que en la teoría se denominan guiones culturales) de distintos aspectos de este estilo comunicativo de cercanía y de palabras claves culturales y rasgos gramaticales relacionados con este modo de comunicar al que, consciente o inconscientemente, adhieren muchos hispanohablantes. Nos basamos en trabajos ya realizados por otros autores dentro de la NSM y proponemos también nuevas descripciones.

Abstract:

This article discusses a communicative style typical of many Spanish speakers, which has often been characterized in the literature on pragmatics and intercultural communication as interpersonal closeness. The theoretical and methodological starting point for the present analysis is the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), which proposes the use of a minivocabulary of basic concepts to explain complex ones. In this case, we present descriptions – called cultural scripts within the theory – of different aspects of this communicative style of closeness and analyze cultural keywords and grammatical features related to this way of communicating, which, consciously or unconsciously, many Spanish speakers adhere to. We rely on work already done by other authors within NSM and we also propose new descriptions.

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Written in Spanish.

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(2020) Spanish (Latin America) – Cultural key words

Published on July 28, 2020. Last updated on July 28, 2020.

Hein, Jan (2020). Cultural keywords in Porteño Spanish: viveza criolla, vivo and boludo. In Bert Peeters, Kerry Mullan, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture (pp. 35-56). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7_3

Abstract:

Viveza criolla, vivo and boludo are three interrelated cultural key words in Porteño Spanish, the variety of Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They have been loosely translated as “native wit and cunning”, “clever, vivacious” and “moron”, respectively. However, these translations fail to capture the exact meanings and implied logic that guide Porteños — the residents of Buenos Aires — when they use these words. This paper first looks at the historical context that saw the emergence of viveza criolla in Buenos Aires, pointing out its link to local criollo culture. It then studies how the three words have been defined in a varied sample of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. It is  claimed that, besides issues of ethnocentric framing and circularity, viveza is not sufficiently described as an expression of local culture and sociality, and neither vivo nor boludo are appropriately captured as social categories. Finally, I use the NSM approach to capture and explore the keywords’ meanings in simple, cross-translatable terms. Semantic explications are supported with discursive evidence from common sayings, fixed expressions, news articles, tango lyrics and tweets.

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(2020) Spanish (Latin American) – Discursive constructions

Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.

Hein, Jan. (2020). Europeanized Places, Europeanized People: The Discursive Construction of Argentina. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics, 2(2020), 28–45

(Open Access)

 

Abstract:

A remarkable feature of Argentine national discourse is the variety of forms which perpetuate the ideologies of 19th century leaders endorsing the absolute Europeanization of the nascent Argentine nation-state. Among these forms are a number of multiword expressions that construe Argentine places and people as essentially “European”, such as the famous Buenos Aires es la París de Sudamérica (‘Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America’) and Los argentinos descienden de los barcos (‘Argentines descend from the ships’). This paper combines the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach (Goddard & Wierzbicka 2014; Levisen & Waters 2017; Goddard 2018) and Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier 1999; Coulson & Oakley 2000; Fauconnier & Turner 2002) to explore the conceptual architecture of these two expressions and the discourses around which they are organized, offering original insights into the construal of places and people in Argentine postcolonial discourse.

 


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(2021) Spanish, Danish – Language Teaching

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

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