A resource base of publications using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. 1,100+ detailed notices, and counting!
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.
Trnavac, Radoslava (2003). Koncept nade u srpskom jeziku [The concept of hope in Serbian]. Slavia Meridionalis, 4, 215-246.
Written in Serbian.
Trbojević-Milošević, Ivana (2008). Grammar can hurt: A contrastive view of English and Serbian imperatives. In Katarina Rasulic, & Ivana Trbojević (Eds.), ELLSSAC Proceedings – English language and literature studies: Structures across cultures. Volume I (pp. 103-114). Belgrade: Faculty of Philology.
Kurteš, Svetlana (2008). An investigation into the pragmatics of grammar: Cultural scripts in contrast. In Martin Pütz, & JoAnne Neff-van Aertselaer (Eds.), Developing contrastive pragmatics: Interlanguage and cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 67-85). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110207217.1.67
This paper looks at verbal reflexivity and middleness as exemplified in a set of related verbs in Serbo-Croat, known as ‘se-verbs’. The performed analysis is monodirectional and corpus-based, starting from Serbo-Croat and observing the translation equivalents of the ‘se-verbs’ in English. The pragmatic principles underlying the rules of usage of these verbs, often rather neglected in traditional reference grammars and relevant pedagogical materials, need to be established and analysed in the socio-cultural context in which the examined instances were found to be naturally occurring. The author discusses these pragmatic principles and proposes ways of introducing them into language teaching curricula and relevant pedagogical materials. She also argues for a recognition of Wierzbicka’s ‘cultural scripts’ in foreign language teaching enabling the learner to interpret messages in terms of their underlying cultural norms and values. Examples are taken mainly from modern political discourses and public communication.
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Trbojević-Milošević, Ivana (2009). Some contrasts in politeness structure of English and Serbian. In Marek Kuźniak, & Bożena Rozwadowska (Eds.), PASE Papers 2008: Studies in language and methodology of teaching foreign languages (pp. 177-184). Wrocław: Oficyna Wydawnicza ATUT.
Simonović, Marko (2012). “Ik ben toch niet gek!“ – Othering en normativiteit in het Nederlandse en het Servische vertoog [“I’m not crazy! – Othering and normativity in Dutch and Serbian discourse]. In Jelica Novaković-Lopušina, Tamara Britka, Bojana Budimir, Mirko Cvetković, & Lada Vukomanović (Eds.), Lage landen, hoge heuvels: Handelingen Regionaal Colloquium Neerlandicum (pp. 43-59). Belgrado: ARIUS/Filološki fakultet u Beogradu. PDF (pre-publication version on the author’s Academia page)
The goal of this contribution is twofold. On the one hand, it looks at the “normality” continuum in Serbian and Dutch (comparable to crazy > awkward/weird > strange > peculiar > normal > common in English), in an attempt to identify the main similarities and differences using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. On the other hand, it proposes to move away from the comparison paradigm. Instead, it develops an account approaching languages diffractively (à la Karen Barad), as an ongoing intra-action. Under such an approach, the role of the practices of the (broadly defined) bilingual speaker changes radically: the speaker is invited to live the difference productively and to overcome the ideology of sameness and representationalism. The bilingual speaker is always consigned to being more-than-normal and accountable for how she speaks the constitutive boundary.
But there is more. The goal of this contribution is to spoil othering/normativity/universality for the reader, strategically using the insight that not only are different things “crazy” in different discourses, but also the very scale of measuring “crazy” is discourse/language-specific and ever-becoming. In this sense, there is no transcendental norm(ality) to measure against, only what we make of what has been entrusted to us.
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Trbojević-Milošević, Ivana (2012). Modal hedges in para-pharmaceutical product instructions: Some examples from English and Serbian. Revista de lenguas para fines específicos, 18, 71-92. PDF (open access)
The paper investigates how modal hedges, understood as expressions of procedural meaning, i.e. expressions containing instructions for the addressee/reader on how to process the propositional content of an utterance/statement are used in product descriptions, advertisements and consumer instructions leaflets for a number of products belonging to the Consumer Health Care category for the purposes of complying with consumer protection laws on the one hand and serving as an implicit disclaimer of manufacturer’s responsibility on the other. The analysis is carried out contrastively for two languages, English and Serbian. The results obtained are discussed and viewed as a matter of cultural variety and difference, especially taking into consideration the fact that consumer protection laws seem to be equally strict in US, UK and Commonwealth, Europe and Serbia.
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
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Crude application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
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Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
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Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
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Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners |
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners |