Browsing results for Makasai

(2008) Makasai – Ethnogeometry

Published on May 10, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

Brotherson, Anna (2008). The ethnogeometry of Makasai (East Timor). In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Cross-linguistic semantics (pp. 259-276). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.102.17bro

The identification of language universals has long been a topic of interest. This article tests a number of theories in relation to universal human conceptualisation of space, by analysing spatial concepts in the Papuan language Makasai (East Timor). This analysis is conducted within the framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). This chapter provides detailed NSM explications for various Makasai shape adjectives, which are then compared and contrasted with spatial terms of English (Wiezbicka 2003, 2006). This analysis finds that while a number of posited language universals are indeed present in Makasai, others are not, and therefore should no longer be considered
universal. The chapter also demonstrates the value of using NSM in the search for language universals, and for analysing and comparing spatial terms across languages.

(2010) Environmental semantic molecules

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 22, 2018.

Goddard, Cliff (2010). Semantic molecules and semantic complexity (with special reference to “environmental” molecules). Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 8(1), 123-155. DOI: 10.1075/ml.8.1.05god

In the NSM approach to semantic analysis, semantic molecules are a well-defined set of non-primitive lexical meanings in a given language that function as intermediate-level units in the structure of complex meanings in that language. After reviewing existing work on the molecules concept (including the notion of levels of nesting), the paper advances a provisional list of about 180 productive semantic molecules for English, suggesting that a small minority of these (about 25) may be universal. It then turns close attention to a set of potentially universal level-one molecules from the “environmental” domain (‘sky’, ‘ground’, ‘sun’, ‘day’, ‘night’ ‘water’ and ‘fire’), proposing a set of original semantic explications for them. Finally, the paper considers the theoretical implications of the molecule theory for our understanding of semantic complexity, cross-linguistic variation in the structure of the lexicon, and the translatability of semantic  explications.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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