A resource base of publications using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. 1,100+ detailed notices, and counting!
Koselak, Arkadiusz (2007). Sémantique des sentiments: “Quand je pense à toi, je ressens quelque chose de mauvais” en français et en polonais [The semantics of emotions: “When I think of you, I feel something bad” in French and in Polish]. PhD thesis, Université Paul-Verlaine (Metz). PDF (open access)
Written in French.
Elduayen, Luis Gastón (2007). Introduire le discours d’autrui: Actes de parole et verbes “secondaires” dans la presse franco-espagnole [Introducing other people’s discourse: Speech acts and “secondary” verbs in the French-Spanish press]. Revista española de lingüística aplicada, 20, 37-58. PDF (open access)
Is it necessary to recall that it is ultimately through the speech acts generated by verba dicendi that reported speech is introduced, clarified, even explicated, and that readers are placed on the path of good reception? With public life being nothing short of an immense interlocutional labyrinth, the importance of the words spoken and reported by the written press (in this case the French-Spanish written press), on the one hand, and that of the “relating” verbs, on the other, comes into even sharper focus. The object of this analysis, which is fundamentally semantic, will be this class of “secondary” items – secondary by reason of their frequency. It is a class that, at times, may even include collateral items, i.e. items which, precisely because of their function, belong to the said class but whose semantics is often unrelated to it.
Krijtenburg, Froukje (2007). Cultural ideologies of peace and conflict: A socio-cognitive study of Giryama discourse (Kenya). PhD thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. PDF (open access)
This study is inspired by the idea that ‘ordinary’ people, and especially their understandings and beliefs, are an essential – yet relatively neglected – factor in intercultural conflict resolution. Within the wider context of social studies of conflict and its attempted resolution this is a cognitive study of their understandings (i.e. the ‘cultural understandings’) of ‘peace’ and ‘conflict’. The overall framework is that of anthropological linguistics, with its characteristic view of language as linguistic practice. An analytical model is developed and applied to a case study of the Giriama of Kenya. This model facilitates accounting for an insider view as well as a cross-cultural comparison. It can be used for studying ‘cultural understandings’ of ‘peace’ and ‘conflict’ in other communities,and renders outcomes that can be compared. The research domain is everyday and public discourse.
Arnawa, Nengah (2007). Semantik universal dan pembelajaran bahasa: Studi kasus pada anak-anak usia 4-6 tahun [Universal semantics and language learning: A case study of children aged 4-6]. Widyadari, 4, 14-23. PDF (open access)
Language learning theory suggests that learning materials should be designed at a higher level than the linguistic competencies of learners. To implement this idea, a description of children’s language is needed. One instrument that can be used to describe children’s language is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, which includes in its lexicon a set of universal meanings (semantic primes) that exist in spite of the variability of human cultures. These meanings are the first to be mastered by children acquiring their first language. Combining the semantic primes in accordance with the morphosyntactic rules of a language produces canonical sentences. Canonical sentences produced by children can be used as a basis for composing language learning materials.
This paper is about language acquisition and language learning. It does not contain any explications or scripts. No rating is provided.
Bartens, Angela, & Sandström, Niclas (2007). Italian diminutives in the light of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. In Juhani Härmä, Eva Havu, Mervi Helkkula, Meri Larjavaara, Mari Lehtinen, & Ulla Tuomarla (Eds.), SILF 2005. Actes du XXIXe Colloque International de Linguistique Fonctionnelle (pp. 31-36). Helsinki: Département des langues romanes de l’Université de Helsinki.
In a previous study (Bartens & Sandström 2006), the authors formulated a number of categories into which the usage of the diminutive in both Italian and Spanish seems to fall. Since the diminutive does not constitute a part of the semantic core, it was supposed to be explicable in terms of NSM. Based on our results, it is suggested that, although culturally seemingly central to both of these Mediterranean cultures, the usages of the diminutive are more diffuse and detailed in Spanish than they are in Italian. By using the semantic primes that operate in the NSM theory, we aim at explicating the various uses of the Italian diminutive.
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Yoon, Kyung-Joo (2007). Contrastive semantics of Korean ‘maum’ vs. English ‘heart’ and ‘mind’. The Journal of Studies in Language, 22(3), 171-197.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.22.3.200702.171 / Open access
Abstract:
This paper uses the semantic framework provided by the NSM approach to contrast three ethnopsychological constructs: 몸 maum in Korean, and heart and mind in English. The latter are the most common translational equivalents of the Korean term. There is no semantic equivalence: which of the two English words is used to translate 몸 maum in any particular context is contextually driven. All three play a significant role in expressing emotions and thoughts, but no contrastive semantic analysis of the terms is found in the literature. This study shows it is possible to compare culturally loaded and complex concepts in terms of semantic similarities and differences by using an appropriate tertium comparationis. At the same time it indicates that NSM can endow ethnopsychology with a practical and descriptive tool.
More information:
An earlier version of this paper was published as:
Yoon, Kyung-Joo (2004). Korean maum vs. English heart and mind: Contrastive semantics of cultural concepts. In Christo Moskovsky (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2003 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. http://www.als.asn.au/proceedings/als2003.html.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Yoon, Kyung-Joo (2007). Korean ethnopsychology reflected in the concept of ceng ‘affection’: Semantic and cultural interpretation. 담화와인지 [Discourse and Cognition], 14(3), 81-103.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15718/discog.2007.14.3.81 / Open access
Abstract:
This paper contributes to a better cross-linguistic and cross-cultural understanding of Korean ethnopsychology and Korean ways of thinking and feeling through a linguistic analysis of the culture-specific concept and emotion known as 정 ceng. It uses NSM to describe the meaning of 정 ceng as well as that of ceng tteleci- ‘be disgusted’, which is one of several fixed expressions containing the word 정 ceng.
It is widely agreed that 정 ceng reflects the essence of Korean psychology in both interpersonal relations and personality characteristics. Understanding the meaning of 정 ceng and of the fixed expressions containing 정 ceng in daily conversations is therefore critical for cultural outsiders of Korean culture, and in particular for language learners. The analysis is based on linguistic evidence collected from corpus and other resources as well as on previous research in Korean cultural psychology.
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Yoon, Kyung-Joo (2007). “Do you remember where you put the key?”: The Korean model of remembering. In Mengistu Amberber (Ed.), The language of memory in a crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 209-233). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.21.11yoo
Abstract:
The general treatment of the English concept ‘remember’ in cognitive science mistakenly suggests that it is a kind of innate human mental state that enjoys universal existence. This is denied by the existence of three translational equivalents of remember in Korean (sayngkakna-, kiekna- and kiekha-), which cannot be used indiscriminately: context is the decisive factor in the selection of the appropriate verb. This paper analyses the meanings of the selected Korean cognitive verbs that are employed as translational counterparts of remember. The NSM approach is adopted as the research framework for semantic analysis. Linguistic evidence is collected from various sources including corpora.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Yoon, Kyung-Joo (2007). Mental states reflected in cognitive lexemes related to memory: A case in Korean. In Andrea C. Schalley, & Drew Khlentzos (Eds.), Mental states: Vol. 2. Language and cognitive structure (pp. 85-108). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.93.07yoo
Abstract:
This study explores the issue of universality and variation in conceptual systems across languages and cultures. It investigates cross-linguistic variability in such systems through a semantic study of various morphosyntactic patterns in Korean. The focus is on three words related to the mental experience of remembering: kiekha- ‘remember’, kiekna- ‘memory comes, remember’, and chwuekha- ‘reminisce’. Their semantic contents is described on the basis of linguistic evidence, using NSM as an analytical tool.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
이정애 [Lee, Jeong-Ae] (2007). 문화간 의사소통을 위한 ‘화’ 의 의미분석 [A semantic analysis of the emotion word hwa for cross-cultural communication]. 담화와 인지 [Discourse and Cognition], 14(1).
Written in Korean.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2007). Reasonably well: Natural Semantic Metalanguage as a tool for the study of phraseology and its cultural underpinnings. In Paul Skandera (Ed.), Phraseology and culture in English (pp. 49-78). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110197860.49
No abstract available.
de la Cruz Cabanillas, Isabel (2007). Semantic primes in Old English: A preliminary study of descriptors. Selim, 14, 37-58.
The aim of this paper, which contains no explications, is to apply the methodology of semantic primes to Old English to check whether it represents a suitable theoretical and methodological framework for the lexical and semantic study of this period. It consists of a preliminary analysis of the semantic primes grouped as Descriptors: BIG/SMALL. The group is discussed taking into account a sample of texts provided by the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts and supplemented by the information contained in the Dictionary of Old English Corpus. The main sources of information on Old English definitions are A Thesaurus of Old English by Roberts and Kay (1995) and A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary by Clark Hall (1931). The article attempts at being just a first approach to the topic, which could be further developed and extended to other semantic categories.
Gladkova, Anna (2007). Russian emotions, attitudes and values: Selected topics in cultural semantics. PhD thesis, Australian National University.
Abstract:
This thesis explores the relationship between the Russian language and Russian culture through a detailed semantic analysis of selected expressions relating to emotions, attitudes, and values. The basic idea behind the study is that some words of the lexicon reflect cultural beliefs and attitudes, that is, that the meanings of these words encode ways of thinking and ways of understanding which are shared by speakers of a language. The cultural significance of the expressions under study is demonstrated by their semantic relationship to other Russian cultural key words and cultural ideas. The thesis shows the linguistic and cultural specificity of the words by comparing them with their English translational equivalents. The meanings of these English quasi-equivalents are discussed in relation to Anglo cultural norms. Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) is used to explicate meanings and to state cultural nonns. The explications of meanings are presented in two NSM versions – Russian and English. To justify the use of Russian NSM version, a focused study of the exponents of semantic primitives in Russian and their syntactic properties is undertaken. This study shows that the Russian and English NSM versions are equivalent. NSM provides a culture-neutral tool of linguistic analysis which allows one to formulate the results in a manner free from ethnocentric bias. The thesis seeks to contribute to a clearer understanding of Russian culture and of ways of thinking as they are embedded in the Russian language. The results of the thesis can be applied in language instruction, teaching cross-cultural communication, bilingual sh1dies, cognitive science and cultural psychology.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Gladkova, Anna (2007). Universal and language-specific aspects of “propositional attitudes”: Russian vs. English. In Andrea C. Schalley & Drew Khlentzos (Eds.), Mental states: Vol. 2. Language and cognitive structure (pp. 61-83). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.93.06gla
In linguistic literature inspired by philosophical tradition, it is often assumed that the key distinction in the area of “propositional attitude” is that between “know” and “believe”. The Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory of language and thought argues that while know is a universal conceptual prime (KNOW), believe is not. It posits THINK, not believe, as a universal counterpart of KNOW. The Moscow Semantic School posits primitives ЗНАТЬ ZNAT’ (KNOW) and СЧИТАТЬ SČITAT’ (which has no exact English equivalent). This chapter argues that the use of считать sčitat’ and believe as putative primes is unjustified. It supports думать dumat’ as the Russian exponent of the universal conceptual prime THINK and it shows that the use of думать dumat’ as a prime leads to much better results than the use of считать sčitat’.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
François, Jacques (2007). Book review of Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, 102(2), 116-125.
Written in French.
This book review includes French translations of some of the explications provided in the chapters by Patrick Farrell and by Mónica Aznárez Mauleón and Ramón González Ruiz.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2007). Shape and colour in language and thought. In Andrea C. Schalley, & Drew Khlentzos (Eds.), Mental states: Vol. 2. Language and cognitive structure (pp. 37-60). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.93.05wie
“Colour” and “shape” are concepts important to the speakers of English and of many other languages. They are not, however, universal: there are many languages which have no words corresponding to the English words colour and shape, and in which questions like “what colour is it?” or “what shape is it?” cannot be asked at all. Clearly, speakers of such languages do not think about the world in terms of “colour” and “shape”. How do they think about it, then?
This study shows that by using an empirically discovered set of universal semantic primes which includes see and touch we can effectively explore ways of construal of the visual and tangible world different from those embedded in, and encouraged by, English.
Amberber, Mengistu (2008). Semantic primes in Amharic. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Cross-linguistic semantics (pp. 83-119). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.102.09amb
Abstract:
This study explores the lexical exponents of the full set of NSM primes in Amharic. It is shown that the identification of the Amharic exponents of the semantic primes is straightforward and the syntactic properties of the primes do not present any particular difficulties. Nevertheless, there are some proposed exponents whose status requires further investigation. For instance, the prime MORE seems to have two lexical exponents, one of which is employed in nominal comparative contexts. There are also some exponents whose polysemous meanings must be clearly distinguished on formal grounds. Overall, the chapter attempts to provide a broad overview of the universal and language-specific combinatorial properties of semantic primes in Amharic.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Knight, Emily (2008). Hyperpolysemy in Bunuba, a polysynthetic language of the Kimberley, Western Australia. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Cross-linguistic semantics (pp. 205-223). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.102.13kni
Like a number of other Kimberley languages, Bunuba has very few morphologically simple verbs. Most verbs (including exponents of some semantic primes, such as WANT, SEE, and THERE IS) consist of an inflected auxiliary combined with an invariable coverb. After a brief review of how other predicate primes are expressed in Bunuba, the main body of the chapter considers semantic primes SAY, DO, THINK, HAPPEN, and FEEL, which, it is argued, are all expressed by a single, morphologically simple Bunuba verb MA. Detailed language-internal evidence is adduced to support the existence of this striking five-way polysemy. It is shown that each of the five identifiable lexical units has a distinctive syntactic/semantic profile. These facts are incompatible with alternative analyses which posit a single general abstract meaning.
Sun, Gui-Li, & Hsieh, Ching-Yu (2008). Three emotional adverbs in Mandarin Chinese: An application of Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Feng Chia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 17, 121-139. PDF (open access)
Emotional adverbs are usually difficult for non-native speakers to comprehend. They belong to a category of function words that are not easily defined and that appear to be semantically empty. Few researchers have explored them. This study examines the emotional adverbs 明明 mingming, 萬萬 wanwan and 簡直 jianzhi by means of the NSM approach. The data for the study was mostly selected from the Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese, and from conversations among junior high school students.
The result shows that each of the adverbs has different implications and can be used in certain specific situations. For example, 明明 mingming is used to express negative emotions like disaffection or anger, while 萬萬 wanwan can be used to show speakers’ positive and negative feelings, although it is used only in negative sentences. 簡直 jianzhi is usually followed by a metaphor or simile and implies a complaint and incredibility. The underlying cognition of the three emotional adverbs is revealed by an analysis of explications.
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Junker, Marie-Odile (2008). Semantic primes and their grammar in a polysynthetic language: East Cree. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Cross-linguistic semantics (pp. 163-204). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.102.11jun
Using data from the polysynthetic language East Cree, this study examines challenges to the Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory developed by Wierzbicka and her colleagues. An almost complete version of the Cree NSM is proposed. While most primes have exponents in Cree, the universality of the lexical
realisation of partonymy is called into question. Most combinatorial properties of the semantic metalanguage are attested in Cree, except for problems in the syntactic combinations of THINK and FEEL with SOMETHING, and with GOOD and BAD. Current ways of thinking about NSM clause structure need to be revised to accommodate the pronominal argument structure of such a language. The NSM approach also proves to be a good bottom-up technique for language description. More polysynthetic languages need to be studied using this framework.
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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 |