Browsing results for Language families
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2018.
Kidman, Angus (1993). How to do things with four-letter words: A study of the semantics of swearing in Australia. BA(Hons) thesis, University of New England. HTML (open access)
This thesis presents and defends semantic explications for a number of swear words commonly used in Australian English. Its focus is on different constructions which can be conveyed using the three lexical forms shit, fuck and cunt. Contrary to the popular belief that swear words are “meaningless”, it is shown that each of these swear words can be used to convey a number of specific meanings. These meanings are sometimes related, but each needs to be defined independently if similarities and differences between terms are to be precisely captured. Aspects of meaning discussed include the contrast between the exclamations Shit! and Fuck!, the common adjectival form fucking, the relationship of the referential term cunt to other uses, the contrast between fucking and making love, and the meaning conveyed by
semi-metaphorical forms such as to kick the shit out of someone. The method of semantic representation adopted is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach advocated by Anna Wierzbicka and others. The explications presented here have a number of implications. Relevant issues examined include the relationship between referential uses of swear words and the other meanings which they convey, the semantic importance of the consciousness of “phonetic form” in swearing, and the role of prototypes in the semantics of swear words. The semantic characterization of the concepts “swearing” and “swear word” is also discussed.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) bullshit, (E) cunt, (E) cunt of a..., (E) faeces, (E) Fuck off!, (E) Fuck you!, (E) Fuck!, (E) fucking, (E) Get fucked!, (E) I'm fucked, (E) kick/punch the shit out of, (E) make love, (E) Shit!, (E) swear, (E) vagina, (E) Who/What the fuck
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on August 16, 2021.
Béal, Christine (1993). Les stratégies conversationnelles en français et en anglais: Conventions ou reflet de divergences culturelles profondes? [Conversational strategies in French and English: Convention or reflection of profound cultural divergence?] Langue française, 98, 79-106. DOI: 10.3406/lfr.1993.5835. PDF (open access)
The inspiration for this paper was found in A. Wierzbicka’s Cross-cultural pragmatics (1991). The author describes contrastively some of the rules which underlie conversation in French and in Australian English. The transcription of authentic recordings shows how each system works in isolation and what kind of conflicts emerge when both systems meet (in the case of native speakers or French using their own conversational strategies when expressing themselves in English). It is claimed that the observed differences reflect divergent cultural norms. underlie conversation in French and in Australian English. The transcription of authentic recordings shows how each system works in isolation and what kind of conflicts emerge when both systems meet (in the case of native speakers or French using their own conversational strategies when expressing themselves in English). It is claimed that the observed differences reflect divergent cultural norms.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Ritz, Marie-Ève (1993). La sémantique de la négation en français. Langue française, 98, 67-78. DOI: 10.3406/lfr.1993.5834. PDF (open access)
This paper shows how the use of a metalanguage consisting of primitives allows one to clarify some of the problems raised by negation in French. The latter is envisaged not from a static point of view, but, within the psychomecanic tradition, as a cinetism moving from more to less, from plus to minus. The author deals first with fuzziness in negation as achieved by the use of hedges, then looks at the “redundant” ne wich occasionally occurs in the language.
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Monville-Burston, Monique (1993). Les verba dicendi dans la presse d’information [Verba dicendi in the information press]. Langue française, 98, 48-66. DOI: 10.3406/lfr.1993.5833. PDF (open access)
Written in French.
Following the example set by A. Wierzbicka’s English speech act verbs: A semantic dictionary (1988), the author explores on a more modest scale the area of French speech act verbs. Having identified, within a corpus of texts belonging to the newspaper press, the ten most frequent « verba dicendi », she sets out to provide a precise and rigorous definition for each, and she deals with the various constraints which rule their use by journalists.
Published on May 17, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Roberts, Catherine (1993). *Les paroles rapportées dans la presse. BA(Hons) thesis, University of Melbourne.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Peeters, Bert (1993). Commencer et se mettre à: une description axiologico-conceptuelle [Commencer and se mettre à: An axiologico-conceptual description]. Langue française, 98, 24-47. DOI: 10.3406/lfr.1993.5832. PDF (open access)
This paper examines in full detail all syntactic environments in which the Modern French aspectual verbs commencer and se mettre à are currently used. It also investigates the precise semantic differences between both verbs. Definitions are couched in semantic primitives. The author attempts to take a stand with respect to all observations made by others on these verbs over the last thirty years. Most examples are drawn from a corpus of weekly magazines and/or 20th century novels.
Tags: (E) commencer, (E) se mettre à
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Peeters, Bert, & Eiszele, Aileen (1993). Le verbe prendre pris au sérieux. Cahiers de lexicologie, 62, 169-184.
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Curnow, Timothy Jowan (1993). Semantics of Spanish causatives involving hacer. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 13(2), 165-184. DOI: 10.1080/07268609308599494. PDF.
Abstract:
This paper examines the semantics of two Spanish causative constructions – the hacer-plus-infinitive construction and the hacer-plus-subjunctive construction using Natural Semantic Metalanguage to describe the semantic invariants of these two constructions. The analysis is limited to sentences which have animate causers. From the analysis of such sentences, it can be demonstrated that the two constructions have similar but distinct meanings. The hacer-plus-subjunctive construction encodes some idea of intentionality which is absent from the hacer-plus-infinitive construction. Where the construction with the subjunctive is used, the action involved is often (though
not always) indirect, or mediated, rather than direct, in which case the infinitive is usually (but not always) used.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on October 14, 2018.
Harkins, Jean & Wilkins, David P. (1994). Mparntwe Arrernte and the search for lexical universals. In Cliff Goddard & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Semantic and lexical universals: Theory and empirical findings (pp. 285-310). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.25.15har
The set of elements identified here are, at the very least, our best candidates for English-Arrernte lexical translation equivalents, and for elements that will appear in the basic set of propositional structures that comprise NSM definitions. Perhaps more investigation will reveal that they are truly the reflexes of universal properties of mind. Such a goal, however, seems a long way off, and need not detract from the
practical utility of establishing a descriptive metalanguage to facilitate better cross-linguistic semantic comparison.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Chappell, Hilary (1994). Mandarin semantic primitives. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Semantic and lexical universals: Theory and empirical findings (pp. 109-147). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.25.09cha
The approach taken in this analysis of Mandarin is that only a small subset of lexemes and expressions of a natural spoken language serves as a potential ‘key’ or metalanguage in directly representing basic conceptual building blocks, a framework of semantic analysis advocated and developed by Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard. In the main section of the paper, the eight classes of primitives proposed by Goddard and Wierzbicka are discussed in turn for Mandarin: (1) substantives and pronouns; (2) mental predicates; (3) determiners and quantifiers; (4) actions and events; (5) metapredicates; (6) time and place; (7) meronymy and taxonomy; and (8) evaluators and descriptors. Most of the data are elicited for the purpose of creating the set of test sentences with the primitives in their canonical contexts in order to provide a comparative corpus. Where possible, I have supplemented this with data from transcriptions of recorded conversations and narratives to add utterances from natural contexts.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 31, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). Cognitive domains and the structure of the lexicon: The case of emotions. In Lawrence A. Hirschfeld, & Susan A. Gelman (Eds.), Mapping the mind: Domain specificity in cognition and culture (pp. 431-452). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
In trying to discover how knowledge (or at least basic, “foundational” knowledge) is stored and organized in the human mind we can rely, in a considerable measure, on language. There may be concepts that are not lexicalized in natural language, but these are probably less common, less basic, and less salient in a given speech community than those that have achieved lexicalization; they are also less accessible to study. Words provide evidence for the existence of concepts. Lexical sets, sharing a similar semantic structure, provide evidence for the existence of cohesive conceptual wholes (or fields). If it is hypothesized that knowledge is organized in the mind in the form of “cognitive domains,” then conceptual fields detectable through semantic analysis of the lexicon can be regarded as a guide to those domains. These general assumptions are illustrated in this paper by reference to a specific semantic domain: that of emotion terms. For reasons of space, the discussion must remain brief, sketchy, and selective.
Tags: (E) angry, (E) annoyed, (E) disappointed, (E) discontent, (E) displeased, (E) distress, (E) emotion, (E) guilty, (E) irritated, (E) joyful, (E) mad, (E) resent, (E) sad
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 7, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). What is prayer? In search of a definition. In Laurence Binet Brown (Ed.). The human side of prayer: The psychology of praying (pp. 25-46). Birmingham: Religious Education Press.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) pray
Published on December 17, 2017. Last updated on August 16, 2021.
Harkins, Jean (1994). Bridging two worlds: Aboriginal English and crosscultural understanding. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
This sociolinguistic study of Aboriginal English of Alice Springs town camps, published with the blessing of the Yipirinya School Council at Alice Springs, where the author’s linguistic research was based, aims to show that Aboriginal English is a full dialect of English, whose resources it uses to express Aboriginal conceptual distinctions. It explains how there can be misunderstanding when Aboriginal English is seen as an imperfect attempt to learn standard English. The study discusses implications for education particularly for language programs at Yipirinya School.
This book is the published version of:
Harkins, Jean (1988). English as a ‘two-way’ language in Alice Springs. MA thesis, Australian National University.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Wong, Jock (1994). A Wierzbickan approach to Singlish particles. MA thesis, National University of Singapore.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 17, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). Emotion, language, and cultural scripts. In Shinobu Kitayama, & Hazel Rose Markus (Eds.), Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence (pp. 133-196). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Abstract:
This chapter explores the relationship between emotion and culture, and between emotion and cognition. It examines the concept of emotion, and argues that it is culture-specific and rooted in the semantics of the English language, as are also the names of specific emotions, such as sadness, joy, anger, or fear. It shows that both the concept of emotion and the language-specific names of particular emotions can be explicated and elucidated in universal semantic primes (NSM).
NSM provides a necessary counterbalance to the uncritical use of English words as conceptual tools in the psychology, philosophy, and sociology of emotions. It offers a suitable basis for description and comparison of not only emotions and emotion concepts but also of cultural attitudes to emotions. Different cultures do indeed encourage different attitudes toward emotions, and these different attitudes are reflected in both the lexicon and the grammar of the languages associated with these cultures.
The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the language-specific character of emotion concepts and grammatical categories; the need for lexical universals as conceptual and descriptive tools; the doctrine of basic emotions and the issue of the discreteness of emotions; and the relationships among emotions, sensations, and feelings. The second part, on cultural scripts (with special reference to the Anglo and Polish cultures), explores attitudes toward emotions characteristic of different cultures (in particular, the Anglo and Polish cultures) and shows how these attitudes can be expressed in the form of cultural scripts formulated by means of universal semantic primes.
Translations:
Into Polish:
Chapter 5 (pp. 163-189) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1999), Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) (endearments), (E) emotion, (E) enjoy, (E) Gefühl, (E) Gefühle, (E) sensation, (E) sentiment, (E) sentimento, (E) sentimiento, (S) bad things happen to people, (S) compliments, (S) consideration, (S) emotions, (S) feelings, (S) good things can happen to people, (S) I don't think this, (S) I say what I think, (S) I think this, (S) saying what one thinks, (S) self-analysis, (S) self-control, (S) spontaneity, (S) tact, (S) verbal and non-verbal communication, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 22, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). ‘Cultural scripts’: A new approach to the study of cross-cultural communication. In Martin Pütz (Ed.), Language contact and language conflict (pp. 69-87). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/z.71.04wei [sic]
According to Edward Hall, writing in 1983, one element lacking in the cross-cultural field was the existence of adequate models that enable us to gain more insight into the processes going on inside people while they are thinking and communicating. It is the purpose of the present paper to develop and validate a model of the kind that Hall is calling for. The model developed here, which can be called the “cultural script model”, offers a framework within which both the differences in the ways of communicating and the underlying differences in the ways of thinking can be fruitfully and rigorously explored. It is shown how cultural scripts can be stated and how they can be justified; this is done with particular reference to Anglo, Japanese, and Polish cultural norms.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) [tag questions], (E) ne ね, (S) affective common ground, (S) agreement, (S) disagreement, (S) frankness, (S) free speech, (S) hurtful truth, (S) I don't think the same, (S) I don't think this, (S) I think this, (S) I want to say something bad about you, (S) impulsiveness, (S) it is bad to think this, (S) positive thinking, (S) saying exactly what one thinks, (S) self-expression, (S) sincerity, (S) spontaneity, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 26, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). Semantics and epistemology: The meaning of ‘evidentials’ in a cross-linguistic perspective. Language Sciences, 16(1), 81-137. DOI: 10.1016/0388-0001(94)90018-3
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 15 (pp. 427-458) of:
Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Meaning is encoded not only in words but also in grammatical categories. The meanings encoded in grammar (just like those encoded in the lexicon) are language-specific. Attempts to identify the meanings encoded in different languages by means of arbitrarily invented labels only conceals and obfuscates the language-specific character of the categories they are attached to. To be able to compare grammatical categories across language boundaries, we need constant points of reference, which slippery labels with shifting meanings cannot possibly provide. Universal (or near-universal) semantic primitives (or near-primitives) can provide such constant and language-independent points of reference. They offer a secure basis for a semantic typology of both lexicons and grammars. At the same time, they offer us convenient and reliable tools for investigating the universal and the language-specific aspects of human cognition and human conceptualization of the world.
In this paper, the author illustrates and documents these claims by analysing one area of grammar in a number of different languages of the world: the area that is usually associated with the term evidentiality. As the goal of the paper is theoretical, not empirical, the data are drawn exclusively from one source: a volume entitled Evidentiality, edited by Chafe and Nichols (1986). The author reexamines the data presented in this volume by experts on a number of languages, and tries to show how these data can be reanalysed in terms of universal semantic primitives, and how in this way they can be made both more verifiable (that is, predictive) and more comparable across language boundaries.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ?el, (E) 'dug, (E) 'yuu, (E) a, (E) bes, (E) beti, (E) biw, (E) bos, (E) boti, (E) chi, (E) dó, (E) in, (E) ishi, (E) ja, (E) jilli, (E) ke‧, (E) mâ, (E) mela, (E) mi, (E) miyă, (E) mte, (E) mtʰer, (E) mu?a, (E) mute, (E) mutʰer, (E) nnă, (E) nok, (E) ntʰEr, (E) pacha, (E) pi, (E) psa, (E) psilli, (E) qă, (E) qilli, (E) re, (E) red, (E) shi, (E) sk''amna, (E) sk''apsa, (E) sun, (E) ŵă, (E) ŵela, (E) wi, (E) xa, (E) yă, (E) yin, (E) yod, (E) yowă
Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Ameka, Felix (1994). Ewe. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Semantic and lexical universals: Theory and empirical findings (pp. 57-86). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.25.07ame
In general, Ewe seems to have lexical exponents for all of the proposed primitives. In several cases, the items correspond in a straightforward manner with the primitives and their combinatorial frames. In other cases, it is easy to identify a lexical exponent for a primitive, but the item is restricted in its range of use (i.e., it is not easy to use it in all of the proposed canonical context sentences). At the same time, it is shown that certain methodological issues need to be addressed. The first issue concerns allolexy; there is a need for clarification of this notion and of the situations in which it can be legitimately invoked. A second methodological issue relates to the translational approach in identifying the primitives across languages. A third and final problem concerns the conceptual status of the semantic primitives.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Peeters, Bert (1994). Semantic and lexical universals in French. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Semantic and lexical universals: Theory and empirical findings (pp. 423-442). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Onishi, Masayuki (1994). Semantic primitives in Japanese. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Semantic and lexical universals: Theory and empirical findings (pp. 361-386). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.25.18oni
It is said that, in Japanese, a clear stylistic difference between male and female speakers is observed. Usually, lexeme choice and use of certain discourse devices are considered to be the symptoms of that difference. However, recent literature seems to suggest that at least some of the ‘gender-specific’ features can be analysed simply in terms of general conversational constraints, which reflect the power relationship of speakers in Japanese society. This issue is crucially important in the discourse of NSM mini-sentences and the choice of Japanese exponents for certain primitives sensitive to pragmatic contexts – notably I and YOU, but also many others. A somewhat neutralized version of the so-called male familiar style is used as the basic style of the mini-sentences, with plain forms of predicates and no sentence-final particles. In general, lexemes felicitously used in this style are chosen as the exponents of the primitives. Throughout this paper, the language of mini-sentences used for the identification of the Japanese exponents of the primitives is based on the Tokyo uptown dialect.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
