Browsing results for Language families
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 5, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff & Wierzbicka, Anna (2016). ‘It’s mine!’ Re-thinking the conceptual semantics of “possession” through NSM. Language Sciences, 56, 93-104. DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2016.03.002
This study has two main parts. It begins with a conceptual and semantic analysis in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework of what linguists term “true possession” or “ownership”. The requirements of the NSM framework force the analysis to be conducted using very simple expressions that are available not only in English, but (ideally) in all languages. The main proposal is that true possession is anchored in a semantic prime with an egocentric perspective that occurs in a predicative construction, i.e. (IS) MINE. It is argued that expressions like This is mine are semantically irreducible and (very likely) universally expressible across the diversity of the world’s languages.
In the second part of the study, three semantically and grammatically complex “possession verbs” are examined: steal, give, and own. Intricate (but coherent) explications for the English versions of these words are proposed, using (IS) MINE and a range of other semantic components. Though no claim is made that all languages possess precisely these meanings, this study hopes to help pave the way for a lexical semantic typology of “ownership-related” concepts in the languages of the world.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 16, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Haugen, Tor Arne (2016). Semantisk metaspråk og skjematiske nettverk: Valenskonstruksjonar som tydingseiningar [Semantic metalanguage and schematic networks: Valency constructions as meaning units] [In Norwegian]. Maal og minne, 1, 101-140. PDF (open access)
Norwegian exponents for the semantic primes found in Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) are identified, and some of the epistemological basis of the metalanguage is discussed. Even though the identification of many of the primes is not straightforward, it is argued that the metalanguage is a valuable tool for explicit semantic analyses. This is exemplified by corpus-based investigations of the valency constructions of two polyvalent adjectives in Norwegian, and it is argued that a semantic metalanguage of the NSM type can be a valuable supplement to the network model and to other diagrammatic representations applied in cognitive linguistics.
Published on August 10, 2018. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Bułat Silva, Zuzanna (2016). Descrever o lar português [Describing the Portuguese home]. In Barbara Hlibowicka-Węglarz, Justyna Wiśniewska, & Edyta Jabłonka (Eds.), Língua portuguesa: unidade na diversidade: Volume 1 (pp. 201-213). Lublin: Editora da Universidade Marie Curie-Skłodowska.
Written in Portuguese.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 25, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2016). Back to ‘mother’ and ‘father’: Overcoming the eurocentrism of kinship studies through eight lexical universals. Current Anthropology, 57(4), 408-429. DOI: 10.1086/687360
This paper addresses one of the most controversial issues in cultural anthropology: the conceptual foundations of kinship and the apparent inevitability of ethnocentrism in kinship studies. The field of kinship studies has been in turmoil over the past few decades, repeatedly pronounced dead and then again rising from the ashes and being declared central to human affairs. As this paper argues, the conceptual confusion surrounding kinship is to a large extent due to the lack of a clear and rigorous methodology for discovering how speakers of the world’s different languages actually navigate their kinship systems.
Building on the author’s earlier work on kinship but taking the analysis much further, this paper seeks to demonstrate that such a methodology can be found in Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory (developed by the author and colleagues), which relies on 65 universal semantic primes and on a small number of universal “semantic molecules” including ‘mother’ and ‘father’. The paper offers a new model for the interpretation of kinship terminologies and opens new perspectives for the investigation of kinship systems across languages and cultures.
Comments by a number of scholars, including Felix Ameka, follow the paper.
See also:
Kotorova, Elizaveta (2018). Analysis of kinship terms using Natural Semantic Metalanguage: Anna Wierzbicka’s approach. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 22(3), 701-710.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) awofasi, (E) born, (E) duujinda, (E) Father, (E) kamuru, (E) kularrinda, (E) kuntili, (E) kuta, (E) malanypa, (E) mama, (E) mother, (E) ngunytju, (E) thabuju, (E) tɔ, (E) wakatha, (E) wofa, (E) wofasi, (E) yakukathu, (S) kinship, (T) English
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.
Abstract:
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.
Rating:
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 September 9, 2018.
Wong, Jock (2016). A critical look at the description of speech acts. In Alessandro Capone, & Jacob L. Mey (Eds.), Interdisciplinary studies in pragmatics, culture and society (pp. 825-855). Cham: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-12616-6_32
For John Searle, philosophy of language was the attempt to come up with philosophically illuminating descriptions of some of the general features of language. It was to concern itself only incidentally with particular elements in a particular language. The problem is that understanding the general features of language requires a metalanguage that contains general features of language; a metalanguage that contains particular elements associated with particular languages (or, in other words, an ethnocentric metalanguage) does not fit the bill. Yet, this is precisely how the study of speech acts, which originally came under the ambit of language philosophy, is often conducted – with an ethnocentric metalanguage. It seems paradoxical that while scholars who study speech acts directly or indirectly engage in the pursuit of language universals, the metalanguage they use often effectively prevents them from reaching that goal.
This chapter argues that, if we want to fruitfully study speech acts in world languages, we should employ an analytical tool that is minimally ethnocentric, such as the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). It helps us recognize speech acts from any language, even if there is no English word for them, and it allows us to understand them from the inside.
This chapter also argues that we should refrain from “comparing” speech acts by asking how people in various cultures perform the same speech act because this would necessitate the use of a language-specific speech act verb (e.g., request, apologize). A more fruitful way might be to formulate a generic situation using NSM and ask how people in various cultures respond in/to that situation.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) (assertives), (E) (commissives), (E) (declaratives), (E) (directives), (E) (expressives)
Published on May 17, 2017. Last updated on May 29, 2019.
Vo, Thi Lien Huong (2016). The ethnopragmatics of Vietnamese: A study of the cultural logic of interaction focussing on the speech act complex of disagreement. PhD thesis, Griffith University.
Open access
Abstract:
This study investigates the cultural logic underpinning interactions in Vietnamese language and culture, adopting the ethnopragmatic research paradigm originating within the NSM framework. First, it seeks to elaborate the semantic and pragmatic content of key words for Vietnamese cultural conceptualization using semantic explications and cultural scripts. The key words could be roughly translated by means of the English words friend, colleague, boss and workplace. In this exploration, two overarching cultural schemas, namely quan hệ (‘relationship’) and thứ bậc (‘hierarchy’), are identified and several intertwined social categories, normative values and communicative virtues, underpinning the cultural logic of interaction, are explained. The study then seeks to discover how this cultural logic illuminates Vietnamese ideas about the management of ‘disagreement’ in interaction, under various scenarios and with various interlocutor types (e.g., older vs. younger, family members vs. outsiders).
The findings indicate that the conceptualization of quan hệ (‘relationship’) is affected by family-relatedness. Based on this, a distinction between người nhà (‘family people’) and người ngoài (‘outsiders’) is made. In addition, mutual understanding, shared experience and time length of acquaintanceship qualify an interpersonal relationship and characterize various subcategories among người ngoài (‘outsiders’), including người lạ (‘strangers’), người quen (‘acquaintances’), and người thân (‘close people’). Other sociolinguistic variables (such as gender, personality, and interest) also contribute to the conceptualization of quan hệ (‘relationship’). From a normative perspective, the cultural schema thứ bậc (‘hierarchy’) and its coexisting set of moral rules for behaviour, lễ phép (‘respectfulness’), provide standards and principles for accepted behaviour in Vietnamese interaction.
The findings also show that both cultural schemas inform the way of Vietnamese thinking about appropriate verbal performance in disagreement-type interaction. For example, in instances of disagreement over content accuracy, Vietnamese speakers tend to be more frank as this frankness indicates awareness of collective responsibility. In contrast, they show a propensity towards implicit disagreement with an evaluation. Furthermore, to a certain degree at least, disagreement over content accuracy in family interaction has a didactic orientation, inasmuch as it prepares family members for social interaction and spares them the possible risk of losing face.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) bạn của tôi, (E) công sở, (E) đồng nghiệp của tôi, (E) người lạ, (E) người ngoài, (E) người nhà của tôi, (E) người quen, (E) người thân, (E) quan he, (E) thứ bậc, (S) dealing with strangers, (S) expressing disagreement, (S) gender consciousness in a relationship, (S) harmonious empathy, (S) honorific awareness, (S) importance of humility, (S) importance of propriety, (S) importance of tact, (S) interacting with outsiders, (S) occupation-consciousness, (S) respecting the older, (S) strangers first acquaintances later, (S) using honorifics, (S) yielding to the younger, (T) Vietnamese
Published on May 17, 2017. Last updated on May 11, 2019.
Vo, Lien-Huong (2016). Responding to informational inaccuracy in family talk: A Vietnamese ethnopragmatic perspective. Language, Culture and Society, 39, 57-67.
Open access
Abstract:
This paper discusses common Vietnamese ways of thinking about responding to the inaccuracy of information provided by different interactional participants in family talk. The findings show that Vietnamese family interaction, although relaxing and sincere, is strictly hierarchical, which is evident in the way younger interactants respond to misinformation provided by older interactants. Different ways of thinking about appropriate responses to information inaccuracy are articulated using cultural scripts. Furthermore, parental power in the family, as well as the psychological power of older siblings over younger siblings, is touched upon in the discussion, suggesting implications for both prospective research on Vietnamese language and culture and for non-Vietnamese who have intercultural encounters with speakers of Vietnamese.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) disagreement, (S) strangers first acquaintances later
Published on March 26, 2018. Last updated on November 9, 2019.
Farese, Gian Marco (2017-18). The Fundamental Principles of the Italian constitution: A semantic analysis. Quaderni di Semantica, n.s. 3-4, 667-746.
Abstract:
This paper presents a semantic analysis of the so-called “Fundamental Principles”, the first twelve articles of the Italian constitution. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the Italian constitution as a literary text, not a legal text. Thus, the focus of the present analysis is strictly on the linguistic aspects of the Fundamental Principles, not on the juridical ones. The meaning of the key words of these twelve articles is analysed adopting the methodology of the NSM approach, whereas the language and the structure of the text are analysed following the principles of text linguistics. The reader is able to appreciate the Fundamental Principles both in the original version and in a revised English translation.
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) dignità, (E) eguaglianza, (E) inderogabile, (E) inviolabile, (E) libertà, (E) nazione, (E) ripudiare, (E) solidarietà, (T) Italian
Published on May 1, 2018. Last updated on August 23, 2018.
Sukarsih, Ni Nyoman Tri, & Erfiani, Ni Made Diana (2017). Peranan Metabahasa Semantik Alami dalam pencarian makna verba Bahasa Bali “rasa pada anggota tubuh” [The role of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage in the search for the meaning of Balinese verbs for ‘feel in one’s limbs’]. Sphota: Jurnal Linguistik dan Sastra, 6(1), 59-70. PDF (open access)
Written in Indonesian. All NSM explications are formulated in the language of the paper.
In Balinese, there are several verbs meaning ‘to feel’, all referring to physical pain in the limbs. Using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach, it can be revealed that each word has a different meaning, even though they belong to the same lexical field. The semantic features of each of the words can be described through an in-depth study involving NSM, so that even subtle differences in meaning can be mapped. The NSM theory is able to discern subtle differences between meanings, thus supporting the ‘one form for one meaning and one meaning expressed by a single word’ postulate.
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tags: (E) ayub, (E) beenan, (E) bengka, (E) enek, (E) guam, (E) jampi, (E) kenyot-kenyot, (E) kledot-kledot, (E) klies-klies, (E) kriug-kriug, (E) met, (E) ngangsur, (E) ngilu, (E) ngilut, (E) pengeng, (E) seneb, (E) sengel, (E) sesek, (E) tuh gaing
Published on March 25, 2018. Last updated on September 26, 2018.
Arnawa, Nengah (2017). The implementation of Natural Semantic Metalanguage and semantic field in language teaching: A case study. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(3), 507-515. DOI: 10.17507/jltr.0803.08
This study presents a model for teaching Balinese words by implementing Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and semantic field theory. Data were collected before and after the development of the model with certain indicators: the speed in understanding word meaning, the skill in using words in natural sentence structure, and students’ learning creativity. Based on statistical analysis, it was established that the implementation of NSM and semantic field theory was very effective (significant) for the learning of Balinese words in students of grades 1, 2, and 3.
This paper is about language learning. It does not contain any explications or scripts. No rating is provided.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Levisen, Carsten (2017). The social and sonic semantics of reggae: Language ideology and emergent socialities in postcolonial Vanuatu. Language & Communication, 52, 102-116. DOI: 10.1016/j.langcom.2016.08.009
In Port Vila, Vanuatu, young Pacific Islanders with an ambivalent stance towards the value system represented by the jioj ‘church’ are forming new socialities and new ways of socializing on the fragments of kastom ‘traditional culture’. The reggae sociality stands out. As a cultural key word, reke ‘reggae’ offers a rich point for understanding local language-embedded ideologies, and also for understanding the status of Bislama, the national creole. This study breaks new ground into the emerging discipline of sonic semantics and the study of language ideologies in postcolonial contexts.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) reke, (T) Bislama
Published on October 15, 2017. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Levisen, Carsten & Priestley, Carol (2017). Social keywords in postcolonial Melanesian discourse: Kastom ‘traditional culture’ and tumbuna ‘ancestors’. In Carsten Levisen & Sophia Waters (Eds.), Cultural keywords in discourse (pp. 83-106). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/pbns.277.04lev
In postcolonial Melanesia, cultural discourses are increasingly organized around creole words, i.e. key words of Bislama (Vanuatu) and Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea). These words constitute (or represent) important emerging ethnolinguistic world views, which are partly borne out of the colonial era, and partly out of postcolonial ethnorhetoric. This chapter explores the word kastom ‘traditional culture’ in Bislama and pasin bilong tumbuna ‘the ways of the ancestors’ in Tok Pisin. Specific attention is paid to the shift from “negative “ to “positive” semantics, following from the re-evaluation of ancestral practices in postcolonial discourse. Social key words in postcolonial discourse form a fertile ground for understanding how speakers in Melanesia conceptualize the past as a vital part of the present.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 1, 2018. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Kornacki, Paweł (2017). What does it mean to have a good time the Chinese way? An ethnopragmatic exploration of a Chinese cultural keyword. In Anna Duszak, Arkadiusz Jabłoński & Agnieszka Leńko-Szymańska (Eds.), East-Asian and Central-European Encounters in Discourse Analysis and Translation (pp. 57-82). Warsaw: Institute of Applied Linguistics. PDF (open access)
The paper examines the main uses and the symbolic significance of the Chinese cultural key word 热 闹 rènao. Often rendered in English with its literal gloss of ‘hot and noisy’, it has been viewed by both Chinese and Western scholars as primary in making sense of Chinese social behaviour, across a variety of contexts. The present study analyses two Chinese cultural texts – a report from a local temple festival and a debate over two different styles of feasting, which frequently rely on this salient cultural notion. While the formula crowds, events, noise in the psychological literature dealing with this Chinese social value is often confirmed by the described cultural data, it is argued that close attention to the meaning and form of the descriptive language used by the cultural actors yields valuable insights into indigenous viewpoints. In particular, the notion of 热 闹 rènao turns out to be closely intertwined with other prominent Chinese cultural concerns, such as the idea of 人情味 rén qíng wèi (‘flavour of human feelings’), Chinese cultural identity, Chinese language, and a particularly complex culinary culture as described in the anthropological literature.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) rènao 热 闹
Published on June 8, 2017. Last updated on January 15, 2022.
Tien, Adrian (2017). To be headed for the West, riding a crane: Chinese pragmemes in the wake of someone’s passing. In Vahid Parvaresh, & Alessandro Capone (Eds.), The pragmeme of accommodation: The case of interaction around the event of death (pp. 183-202). Berlin: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-55759-5_11
Abstract
Jia he xi gui ‘to be headed for the West, riding a crane’ is among those words and phrases that Chinese employ in mentioning someone’s passing. Words and phrases such as this not only represent culturally and socially appropriate expressions featured in the wake of someone’s passing but, pragmatically speaking, they also form part of a tactful set of situation- and context-bound pragmatic acts that should be used around the event of death. This chapter presents an overview of the range of pragmatic acts that Chinese typically exploit to express the pragmeme in connection with the event of death. Important extralinguistic pragmatic acts besides speech that are integral to Chinese interactions surrounding this unfortunate event are also taken into consideration.
To articulate the pragmemes as represented by the pragmatic acts, this chapter adopts the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), as advanced by Anna Wierzbicka, as its theoretical framework. NSM is, essentially, a set of semantically basic and universally identifiable primitive concepts or primes that can be used to reduce culturally complex meanings – including meanings of pragmemes – into semantically simple elucidations. Preliminary findings indicate that Chinese socio-cultural conventions encourage an emotionally expressive yet indirect style of interactions in the wake of someone’s passing, in a way that is consistent with the hierarchical relationship between the deceased and the living.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) achieving nirvana, (S) avoid mentioning death, (S) becoming immortal, (S) living after death, (S) living after death because of qualities, (S) showing sadness at deaths
Published on October 15, 2017. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Leung, Helen Hue Lam (2017). Cantonese ‘mong4’: A cultural keyword of ‘busy’ Hong Kong. In Carsten Levisen & Sophia Waters (Eds.), Cultural keywords in discourse (pp. 183-210). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/pbns.277.08leu
This chapter investigates the Hong Kong Cantonese cultural key word 忙 mong4. 忙 mong4 is usually translated into English as busy and into Mandarin as 忙 máng, but though their meanings overlap, many examples of busy and 忙 máng cannot be translated directly into Cantonese using 忙 mong4. This is because mong has a culturally significant meaning and usage, and is linked to a specific value system supported by Hong Kong discourse. This chapter examines some differences between 忙 mong4, busy and 忙 máng, explores Hong Kong discourses of work and life, and the meta-discourse surrounding mong in the speech community. A Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) explication for 忙 mong4 is proposed in English and Cantonese.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on July 13, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Shen, Rae (2017). Semantic primes and their universal syntax in Mandarin Chinese: An update. MA thesis, Australian National University.
Building on the ground-breaking work on Chinese Mandarin primes undertaken by Hilary Chappell, the current study aims to review and update the propositions on the semantic universals and their syntactic properties in Mandarin in the light of the development of the NSM framework during the past decade. It is hoped that the findings as well as the problems raised in this thesis will contribute to some newer and fuller understanding on the primes not only in the context of Mandarin but also for the NSM program.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 16, 2017. Last updated on September 2, 2019.
Ye, Zhengdao (2017). The semantics of social relation nouns in Chinese. In Zhengdao Ye (Ed.), The semantics of nouns (63-88). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198736721.003.0003
Abstract:
This study investigates the nature of Chinese social grouping by analysing the meaning and conceptual structure of a set of nouns that denote salient social relations in Chinese and that form two pairs of complementary opposites. It discusses in detail the commonalities and differences underlying the construals of semantic relation within and between both pairs and offers a semantic method to represent them. The study brings to attention the social categories and associated ways of conceptualizing social and meaning relations that are not often talked about in English, and illustrates that an in-depth analysis of social relation nouns enables researchers to access non-obvious aspects of human social cognition, therefore contributing to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the priorities at play in human social categorization.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) (acquaintance), (E) (insiders), (E) (outsiders), (E) (stranger), (E) shēngrén 生人, (E) shúrén 熟人, (E) wàirén 外人, (E) zìjĭrén 自己人, (S) complementary relation between stranger and familiar person, (S) dynamics between insiders/members of in-group and outsiders/members of out-group, (S) dynamics between stranger and familiar person
Published on June 13, 2017. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Levisen, Carsten & Bøegh, Kristoffer Friis (2017). Cognitive creolistics and semantic primes: A phylogenetic network analysis. In Peter Bakker, Finn Borchsenius, Carsten Levisen & Eeva Sippola (Eds.), Creole studies – Phylogenetic approaches (pp. 293-313). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/z.211.13lev. PDF (open access)
This study presents a semantically driven lexical comparison of 20 creole languages and five European lexifier languages. Breaking new ground into understanding creole semantics, it uses insights from both cognitive semantics (in particular, the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach) and phylogenetic approaches to linguistics comparisons. The authors provide an extensive study of label-meaning correlations as a way to explore the relationship between word labels and word meanings across creoles and lexifiers. They conclude that creoles are not simply “versions” of their lexifier languages, and that it is misleading to say that creoles are “based” on European languages in their basic lexical-semantic configuration. At the same time, they find that creoles do relate more closely to their historical lexifiers than to other creoles, and that the lexical-semantic perspective adds a new dimension to the typology of creoles, nuancing the picture provided by grammar-based comparisons.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on June 13, 2017. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Levisen, Carsten & Aragón, Karime (2017). Lexicalization patterns in core vocabulary: A cross-creole study of semantic molecules. In Peter Bakker, Finn Borchsenius, Carsten Levisen & Eeva Sippola (Eds.), Creole studies – Phylogenetic approaches (pp. 315-344). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/z.211.14lev. PDF (open access)
The study of semantic domains is important for creolistics, given the complex label-meaning configuration in creoles vis-à-vis the European lexifiers. Due to lexical semantic creativity in the creolization process as well as subsequent developments and contacts with lexifiers, substrates, and other contact varieties, each domain seems to have its own history, its own configuration.
Comparing creole words in four different semantic domains, the authors contrast the labels and lexicalizations of social concepts, body part terms, environmental concepts and logical concepts. They focus on the following meanings:
‘children’, ‘women’, ‘men’, ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘wife’, ‘husband’ (social molecules)
‘head’, ‘eyes’, ‘ears’, ‘mouth’, ‘nose’, ‘hands’, ‘legs’ (body part molecules)
‘sun’, ‘sky’, ‘ground, ‘water’, ‘fire’, ‘day’, ‘night’ (environmental molecules)
‘not’, ‘maybe’, ‘can’, ‘because’, ‘if’, ‘very’ and ‘more’ (semantic primes: logical concepts)
Phylogenetic networks are used to compare and contrast lexicalization patterns between domains.
It is shown that the core semantic-conceptual constructs investigated in the study tend to cluster with their lexifiers, but that there are important differences across domains as well: the label-meaning configurations of the social domain stand out as the most diverse, and the environmental domain as the most homogenous.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
