A resource base of publications using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. 1,100+ detailed notices, and counting!
Kornacki, Paweł (2003). Scripts of face – Chinese concepts of mianzi and lian from the Natural Semantic Metalanguage perspective. In Ewa Mioduszewska (Ed.), Relevance studies in Poland: Volume 1 (pp. 349-383). Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
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
Junker, Marie-Odile (2003). A Native American view of the “mind” as seen in the lexicon of cognition in East Cree. Cognitive Linguistics, 14(2-3), 167-194.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2003.007
Abstract:
East Cree, an Algonquian language spoken in Northern Quebec, Canada, has a classifier eyi that indicates mental activity. This morpheme is found in a very large number of cognition words including all verbs for thinking, most for knowing, all for wanting, and several for feeling. A morphosyntactic analysis of over 500 words shows that metaphor plays a large role in Cree and that many common metaphors for thinking are found in the etymology of thinking words, as well as culture-specific ones. There are interesting correlations between thinking and feeling and between rational and supernatural processes. The data support the existence of semantic universals for mental predicates by providing evidence that East Cree has exponents for the semantic primes THINK, WANT, and KNOW. Interviews with elders confirm that the Cree ‘theory of mind’ has both universal and culture-specific aspects, like the ideas of wholeness, a connection with the greater ‘mind’ of creation (the Great Spirit), and respect for others, which is a central value of Cree culture.
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Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
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.
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.
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.
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). ‘Reasonable man’ and ‘reasonable doubt’: The English language, Anglo culture, and Anglo-American law. Forensic Linguistics, 10(1), 1-22.
Abstract:
This paper investigates, in a historical and cultural perspective, the meaning of the word reasonable, and in particular, of the phrases reasonable man and reasonable doubt, which play an important role in Anglo-American law. Drawing on studies of the British Enlightenment such as Porter (2000), it traces the modern English concept of ‘reasonableness’ back to the intellectual revolution brought about by the writings of John Locke, who (as Porter says) ‘replaced rationalism with reasonableness, in a manner which became programmatic for the Enlightenment in Britain’. The paper also argues that the meaning of the word reasonable has changed over the last two centuries and that as a result, the meaning of the phrases reasonable man and beyond reasonable doubt has also changed; but since these phrases were continually used for over two centuries and became entrenched in Anglo-American law as well as in ordinary language, and since the older meaning of reasonable is no longer known to most speakers, the change has, generally speaking, gone unnoticed. On a theoretical level, the paper argues that meaning cannot be investigated in a precise and illuminating manner without a coherent semantic framework; and that a suitable framework is provided by the ‘NSM’ semantic theory.
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Sexism in grammar: The semantics of gender in Australian English. Anthropological Linguistics, 44(2), 143-177.
Olivieri, Kate (2003). A semantic analysis of teasing-related speech act verbs in Australian English. BA (Hons) thesis, University of New England.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Singapore English: A semantic and cultural perspective. Multilingua, 22, 327-366.
Abstract:
This paper examines some aspects of Singapore English, raising questions about Singaporean culture and national identity, and, more generally, about the nature of links between language and culture in a multilingual, hetero- geneous, and rapidly changing society. It argues that Singapore English is grounded in Singapore experience; in doing so, it takes up the notion of ‘interculturality’, proposed by the Singapore linguist Ho Chee Lick. Using the ‘Natural Semantic Metalanguage’, developed by the author and col- leagues, and based on empirically established universal human concepts, the paper offers a detailed semantic analysis of a number of Singaporean ‘key words’, and shows how their meaning reflects the unique Singaporean experience. The detailed semantic analysis of these ‘key words’, and of some other aspects of Singapore English, leads the author to posit some Singaporean ‘cultural scripts’, also formulated in universal human concepts.
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Besemeres, Mary & Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Pragmatics and cognition: The meaning of the particle lah in Singapore English. Pragmatics & Cognition, 11(1), 3-38. DOI: 10.1075/pc.11.1.03bes
This paper tries to crack one of the hardest and most intriguing chestnuts in the field of cross-cultural pragmatics and to identify the meaning of the celebrated Singaporean particle lah, the hallmark of Singapore English. In pursuing this goal, the authors investigate the use of lah and seek to identify its meaning by trying to find a paraphrase in ordinary language that would be substitutable for lah in any context. In doing so, they try to enter the speakers’ minds, and as John Locke urged in his pioneering work on particles, published in 1691, “observe nicely” the speakers’ “postures of the mind in discoursing”. At the same time, they offer a general model for the investigation of discourse markers and show how the methodology based on the NSM semantic theory allows the analyst to link pragmatics, via semantics, with the study of cognition.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Wong, Jock (2003). The reduplication of Chinese names in Singapore English. RASK, 19, 47-85. PDF (open access)
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 3 (pp. 57-93) of:
Wong, Jock O. (2014). The Culture of Singapore English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139519519
In Singapore English, a range of culture-specific address forms are found that do not exist in any other culturally Anglo variety of English. These forms of address are loaded with meanings and can tell us a lot about the evolving Singapore culture and the cultural grounding of Singapore English. Such knowledge benefits a cultural outsider because it facilitates a better understanding of and integration in the Singapore English speech community.
This study looks into one such form of address used in Singapore English: the reduplication of Chinese names. It shows that this grammatical construction is meaningful and captures its meaning in the form of a reductive paraphrase using Natural Semantic Metalanguage. The use of this address form can be shown to be motivated by a Chinese cultural attitude, which speakers are now able to express in Singapore English.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Gladkova, Anna (2003). The semantics of nicknames of the American presidents. In Peter Collins, & Mengistu Amberber (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2002 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. http://www.als.asn.au/proceedings/als2002.html. PDF (open access)
This study is focused on the recorded public nicknames of the American presidents, which were collected from onomastic dictionaries, reference literature on American presidents, and the internet. The data consisted of approximately 430 nicknames for 43 presidents. It is shown that the semantic structure of nicknames can be explicated with lexical universals to make their meaning transparent and avoid a culture-biased analysis and that the semantic analysis of nicknames can give clues to cultural values and assumptions determining their coining.
The semantic structure of nicknames contains both referential and expressive components. The referential components of nicknames can be evaluative. The expressive components are complex and can include emotive components, as well as components of status and familiarity. Nicknames differ in their expressive value, and their variety depends on the forms of personal names used in nicknames. It is possible to divide the nicknames examined here into several groups according to the cultural assumptions underlying their coining.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Koselak, Arkadiusz (2003). Approche sémantique du concept de honte [A semantic approach of the concept of shame]. Pratiques, 117-118, 51-76. DOI: 10.3406/prati.2003.1995. PDF (free access)
Written in French.
The twofold aim of this paper is to characterize honte ‘shame’ as an emotion and to describe how it surfaces in some common French phrases. The approach is in part linguistic, in part non-linguistic. In the linguistic and more specifically semantic analysis of honte, the author takes his cue from different theoretical frameworks, including the NSM approach.
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Van Hecke, Tine (2003). Cultural scripts for French and Romanian thanking behaviour. In Katarzyna M. Jaszczolt, & Ken Turner (Eds.), Meaning through language contrast: Vol. 2 (pp. 237-250). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/pbns.100.15van
In her semantic dictionary of English speech act verbs, Wierzbicka (1987:214–215) proposes an all-round definition for the verb to thank that applies as well to the French and Romanian speech act verbs remercier and a mulţumi. However, in order to account for some differences between French and Romanian thanking behaviour, I propose to reduce it in some cases, and to further develop it in others.
Hasada, Rie (2003). “Cultural script” on Japanese attitude towards emotion. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Bulletin of Japanese Language Center for International Students, 29, 27-67. PDF (open access)
This paper aims to explicate and define the tacit cultural norms/rules associated with Japanese people’s attitudes towards emotions and the expression of emotion in Japanese culture. It represents these norms/rules in the form of “cultural scripts”, using Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) as a descriptive tool.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Asano, Yuko (2003). A semantic analysis of epistemic modality in Japanese. PhD thesis, Australian National University.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Yoon, Kyung-Joo (2003). The proposed universal semantic prime THIS in Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory: Is there an exponent in Korean? 한국어학 [Korean Linguistics], 16, 353-373.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to assess whether the hypotheses of the NSM approach are valid in the Korean context and, more specifically, to investigate whether the prime THIS, proposed as one of the universal semantic elements in NSM theory, is lexicalized in Korean. There appear to be several candidates, but further examination allows to select the most likely exponent. In more general terms, the possibility of conducting semantic analyses using NSM in Korean is endorsed.
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Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Goddard, Cliff (2003). Whorf meets Wierzbicka: Variation and universals in language and thinking. Language Sciences, 25(4), 393-432. DOI: 10.1016/S0388-0001(03)00002-0
Probably no contemporary linguist has published as profusely on the connections between semantics, culture, and cognition as Anna Wierzbicka. This paper explores the similarities and differences between her ‘‘Natural Semantic Metalanguage’’ (NSM) approach and the linguistic theory of Benjamin Lee Whorf. It shows that while some work by Wierzbicka and colleagues can be seen as ‘‘neo-Whorfian’’, other aspects of the NSM program are ‘‘counter-Whorfian’’. Issues considered include the meaning of linguistic relativity, the nature of conceptual universals and the consequences for semantic methodology, the importance of polysemy, and the scale and locus of semantic variation between languages, particularly in relation to the domain of time. Examples are drawn primarily from English, Russian, and Hopi.
Goddard, Cliff (2003). Dynamic ter– in Malay (Bahasa Melayu): A study in grammatical polysemy. Studies in Language, 27(2), 287-322. DOI: 10.1075/sl.27.2.04god
This paper undertakes a fine-grained semantic analysis of some of the multiple uses of the polyfunctional verbal prefix ter– in Malay (Bahasa Melayu), the national language of Malaysia. The analysis is conducted within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna
Wierzbicka, supported by examples drawn from a large corpus of naturally occuring Malay texts. The main goals are to accurately describe the full range of meanings, and to decide to what extent apparent differences are contextually-induced as opposed to being semantically encoded. In the end, seven
distinct but interrelated lexico-semantic schemas are identified, constituting a network of grammatical polysemy.
Trnavac, Radoslava (2003). Koncept nade u srpskom jeziku [The concept of hope in Serbian]. Slavia Meridionalis, 4, 215-246.
Written in Serbian.
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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 |