Browsing results for Chinese
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Tien, Adrian (2011). Lexical semantics of children’s Mandarin Chinese during the first four years. München: Lincom.
Revised version of the author’s PhD thesis, The semantics of children’s Mandarin Chinese: The first four years (University of New England, Armidale, 2005).
If children’s early words or word-like “phrasemes” have any meanings at all, then it should be possible to study and analyse their meanings. But how can early words and meanings be rigorously studied and analysed? In examining naturalistic production data from forty-seven subjects acquiring Mandarin during the first four years, this innovative study takes a radical, semantic approach to words and their meanings in child Mandarin through adopting the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach.
Amongst our findings, lexical exponents of sixty-one or so semantic primes posited in NSM are present in child Mandarin before the end of the fourth year. Many of these are among the earliest and the most frequent words that children produce. In addition, combinatorial properties of these lexical exponents also support hypotheses advanced about universal syntax within the NSM framework, despite challenges posed by a few exponents.
Early vocabulary comprises a great many semantically complex, i.e. “non-prime”, words. Before an NSM prime acquires a lexical exponent, it may first be conceptually present as core semantic elements in the meanings of common non-prime words. This phenomenon is termed “latency”: a semantic prime is considered “latent” when it is first represented conceptually and expounded lexically only later in development.
On the whole, in adopting a representational system (NSM) that is commensurable with the adult system, this study demonstrates that there is, in fact, developmental continuity between the young child’s semantic system and the adult’s system.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2011). Semantic analysis: A practical introduction. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Revised and expanded version of:
Goddard, Cliff (1998). Semantic analysis: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The summary below reflects the contents of the second edition.
This lively textbook introduces students and scholars to practical and precise methods for articulating the meanings of words and sentences, and for revealing connections between language and culture. Topics range over emotions (Chapter 4), speech acts (Chapter 5), discourse particles and interjections (Chapter 6), words for animals and artefacts (Chapter 7), motion verbs (Chapter 8), physical activity verbs (Chapter 9), causatives (Chapter 10), and nonverbal communication. Alongside English, it features a wide range of other languages, including Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, and Australian Aboriginal languages. Undergraduates, graduate students and professional linguists alike will benefit from Goddard’s wide-ranging summaries, clear explanations and analytical depth. Meaning is fundamental to language and linguistics. This book shows that the study of meaning can be rigorous, insightful and exciting.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
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Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Tien, Adrian (2012). Chinese intercultural communication in the global setting, as reflected through contemporary key words in the Chinese multimedia. In Birgit Breninger, & Thomas Kaltenbacher (Eds.), Creating cultural synergies: Multidisciplinary perspectives on interculturality and interreligiosity (pp. 169-184). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
The author casts a closer look on Chinese-speaking communities and cultural key words, which he claims play an important role in intercultural competence. Chinese cultural key words allow one to gain various cultural glimpses on different aspects of modern Chinese culture and society.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 9, 2020.
Wakefield, John C. (2012). A floating tone discourse morpheme: The English equivalent of Cantonese lo1. Lingua, 122(14), 1739-1762.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2012.09.008
Abstract:
Cantonese linguists have said that Cantonese sentence-final particles (SFPs) express the same kinds of meanings that are expressed by intonation in languages such as English, yet apparently no study has ever systematically attempted to discover whether any SFPs have English intonational equivalents. This study identifies the English intonational counterpart to the SFP 咯 lo1 by looking at the pitch contours of Cantonese-to-English audio translations, which were provided by four Cantonese/English native bilingual participants.
Based on the data, it is concluded that the English equivalent of 咯 lo1 is a high-falling pitch contour. A definition using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage is formulated to define 咯 lo1, and native English-speaker judgments indicate that this same definition also defines the meaning of 咯 lo1‘s English equivalent. Examples are given to demonstrate that this definition succeeds at defining either 咯 lo1 or its English equivalent in any context within which they are used. It is proposed that this 咯 lo1-equivalent pitch contour is a floating tone morpheme in the English lexicon. Linguists have long debated whether or not any forms of intonation have context-independent meanings. This study offers empirical evidence in support of the argument that they do.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) lo1 咯
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.
Leung, Helen Hue Lam (2012). The semantics of the Cantonese utterance particle ‘laa1’. In Maïa Ponsonnet, Loan Dao, & Margit Bowler (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42nd Australian Linguistic Society Conference – 2011 (pp. 245-280). http://langfest.anu.edu.au/index.php/als/als2011. PDF (open access)
This paper will carry out an in-depth semantic analysis of one of the most salient and frequently used Cantonese utterance particles, laa1 (high level tone). Cantonese utterance particles occur in continuous talk every 1.5 seconds on average, and play a very important role in Cantonese speakers’ self-expression.
There are approximately one hundred utterance particles in Cantonese, outnumbering those in Mandarin. However, it has been suggested that the particles have no meaning, and there has not been much comprehensive semantic analysis of individual particles. Where utterance particles have
previously been described, the descriptions do not fully and accurately convey their meanings.
In this study, a range of naturally occurring examples of laa1 from the Hong Kong Cantonese Corpus will be examined, and an invariant meaning of laa1 proposed using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). This approach offers advantages over previous descriptions of laa1, and will allow a simple,
precise and translatable definition to be constructed. It is found that laa1 indicates some shared knowledge between a speaker and an addressee. This study addresses the current gap in Cantonese linguistics, and contributes to the understanding of Cantonese utterance particles.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Tien, Adrian (2012). Chinese Hokkien and its lexicon in Singapore: Evidence for an indigenised Singapore culture. In Rudolf Muhr (Ed.), Non-dominant varieties of pluricentric languages: Getting the picture. In memory of Michael Clyne (pp. 453-472). Vienna: Peter Lang.
More surveys of languages of Singapore have concentrated on Chinese Mandarin – one of the official languages – than any other Chinese “dialects” that are also spoken by at least some of the Singaporeans, notably Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese. In focusing on Singapore Chinese Hokkien, this chapter shows that (1) this dialect is, essentially, a pluricentric language, and its Singaporean version reflects a local or indigenized variety of Hokkien that exhibits differences with varieties of Hokkien spoken elsewhere, e.g. Taiwan; (2) at least for now, the status of Hokkien has remained more or less secure and has, in fact, continued to play a prominent role in Singapore language and culture, despite it being non-official and non-dominant; and (3) in fact, Hokkien has assumed an influential role in other languages spoken in Singapore, official or not, e.g. Singapore English (“Singlish”) and Singapore Mandarin etc. A case study presented here, based on the semantic analysis of a Singapore Chinese Hokkien lexicon, demonstrates the uniqueness of this lexicon in usage and in culture.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 18, 2019.
Li, Jing; Ericsson, Christer; & Quennerstedt, Mikael (2013). The meaning of the Chinese cultural keyword xin. Journal of Languages and Culture, 4(5), 75-89.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5897/JLC12.054 / Open access
Abstract:
In China, the word 心 xīn (often translated as heart) is frequently used and its concept is central to Chinese culture. However, its meaning is not exactly the same as that of the English word heart. Using qigong as the context, this article aims to explore the meaning of 心 xīn as a cultural key word to gain an in-depth understanding of Chinese culture and knowledge within that cultural system. Qigong is a Chinese health maintenance system and healing tradition that integrates physical activity with training of the mind and self-cultivation. One of qigong’s basic components is 心 xīn adjustment. It is impossible to convey the full meaning of this concept without understanding the meaning of 心 xīn. In Chinese culture, 心 xīn is the root of physical and mental life. It is the seat of all emotions, and embodies the inherent goodness of human nature and wisdom. 心 xīn helps to guide the individual’s way of life and attitude, and can lead one to deep contentment.
Rating:
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tags: (E) heart, (E) mind, (E) xīn 心
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Leung, Helen Hue Lam (2013). The Cantonese utterance particle ‘gaa3’ and particle combinations: An NSM semantic analysis. In John Henderson, Marie-Eve Ritz, & Celeste Rodríguez Louro (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2012 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society (27 pp.). https://sites.google.com/site/als2012uwa/proceedings. PDF (open access)
Cantonese utterance particles occur in ordinary Cantonese conversation every one or two seconds. Speech becomes unnatural when they are omitted. They are often used in combinations of more than one, with ‘basic’ and ‘compound’ particles totalling approximately one hundred. However, it is generally agreed that the particles’ meanings are extremely elusive. This study uses the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework and natural speech data from the Hong Kong Cantonese Corpus to explain the meaning of the utterance particle gaa3 as used in statements. Gaa3 is the second most frequently used utterance particle in the corpus, and the eleventh most frequently used Cantonese word
overall. The NSM explication proposed clearly states what the ‘core’ or invariant meaning of gaa3 is. Furthermore, the explications of gaa3 and two other particles, laa1 and wo3, can reveal why they can
(or cannot) combine, and what their composite meanings are. This is a new approach to the untested idea that the meaning of particle ‘clusters’ is equal to that of the individual particles combined. The explications begin to expose a system with which the vast array and patterns of Cantonese utterance particles can be explained in a logical way.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Ye, Zhengdao (2013). Understanding the conceptual basis of the ‘old friend’ formula in Chinese social interaction and foreign diplomacy: A cultural script approach. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 33, 365-385. DOI: 10.1080/07268602.2013.846459
This study attempts to make sense of a Chinese diplomatic formula – calling or labelling one’s counterpart 中国人民的老朋友 zhōngguó rénmín de lăopéngyŏu (‘an old friend of the Chinese people’) – by unravelling its conceptual basis. It shows that this formula has deep roots in Chinese social practices, and that its use is governed by a web of intrinsically linked cultural scripts. The paper articulates these scripts in terms of the culture-independent Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), unveiling the cultural logic underlying the use of the expression and revealing the culturally distinctive Chinese way of categorizing and conceptualizing ‘friend’, which is different from the Anglophone way. On the one hand, the paper shows the crucial role that language plays in managing interpersonal relationships by Chinese speakers; on the other, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the conceptual foundations of Chinese diplomatic style, illustrating how formulaic language in diplomacy highlights aspects of social cognition that are fundamental to the speakers of a community, and therefore deserving more attention than has hitherto been the case.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) péngyŏu 朋友, (E) zìjĭrén 自己人, (S) insiders and outsiders, (S) labelling someone as a 同 tóng 'fellow' X, (S) labelling someone as a 老 lăo 'old/long-standing' X, (S) speaking differently to different categories of people, (S) 由疏至亲 yóushūzhìqīn ‘from being distant to being close’
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 9, 2020.
Wakefield, John C. (2013). When cultural scripts collide: Conflicting child-rearing values in a mixed-culture home. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 42(4), 376-392.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2013.838984
Abstract:
This paper discusses some key differences between the child-rearing values of American-English culture and Hong Kong-Cantonese culture. Evidence is drawn from contrasts in the child-rearing-related speech behaviour of people from the two cultures, including the American English-speaking author and his Hong Kong Cantonese-speaking partner. Speaker-oriented cultural scripts written in NSM are developed in an attempt to articulate and explain these differences in verbal behaviour. It is proposed that a major contrast between the two cultures is whether or not parents believe children can or should determine for themselves what is appropriate to say and do.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) giu3, (S) child-rearing behaviour, (S) children require instruction, (S) example setting for children, (S) parental love withdrawal, (S) wh-imperatives
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Tien, Adrian (2013). Bootstrapping and the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese: A Natural Semantic Metalanguage perspective. In Dagmar Bittner, & Nadja Ruhlig (Eds.), Lexical bootstrapping: The role of lexis and semantics in child language development (pp. 39-72). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110308693.39
By means of a set of simple, indefinable concepts apparently existing in the heart of any language, and known as conceptual or semantic “primes”, Natural Semantic Metalanguage researchers explore certain hypotheses about the nature and identities of the innate concepts which may underpin language acquisition. Those hypotheses relate to the kind of conceptual/semantic knowledge/skill that may actually facilitate lexico-semantic and lexico-syntactic acquisition, in a comparable way as conjectured by the Lexical Bootstrapping Hypothesis.
This chapter takes child Mandarin as the child language in question and examines evidence from naturalistic production data of ten young children acquiring Mandarin. Preliminary results indicate that the lexical exponents of all NSM primes are present in child Mandarin before the end of the fourth year. In addition, before a prime is lexically represented in production, it may first be conceptually present as core semantic elements in the meanings of common non-prime words. This phenomenon is termed “latency”. Our findings indicate that child Mandarin and adult Mandarin probably operate on lexico-semantically and lexico-syntactically commensurate systems, with the NSM accounting for their commensurability and, in turn, developmental continuity, though we have also taken various variables into consideration.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Ye, Zhengdao (2013). Comparing the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to emotion and the GRID paradigm. In Johnny R.J. Fontaine, Klaus R. Scherer, & Cristina Soriano (Eds.), Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 399-409). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592746.003.0028
Three important starting points of the GRID paradigm are that (a) the words and expressions ordinary people use to talk about their emotional experience are central to emotion research, (b) emotions are multi-componential phenomena, and (c) the study of the commonalities of human emotion should be firmly grounded in cross-cultural research. All these positions find strong resonance in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to emotion. The aim of this paper is to introduce the NSM approach, compare it with the GRID approach, and explore the possibility of a joint effort between them in the quest for a better understanding of both the universals and the culture-specific aspects of human emotions. The examples discussed in the paper are drawn from English, Chinese, and Ewe, a West African language.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 9, 2020.
Wakefield, John C. (2014). The forms and meanings of English rising declaratives: Insights from Cantonese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 42(1), 109-149.
Open access
Abstract:
The study reported in this paper exploited the existence of a pair of semantically related Cantonese question particles (咩 me1 and 呀 aa4) to learn more about the forms and meanings of the tones that mark declarative questions in English. First each particle was defined using NSM. Cantonese-to-English translations were then elicited from native-bilinguals to discover the English-equivalent forms of the particles. The NSM explications proposed for 咩 me1 and 呀 aa4 are hypothesized to apply equally to their English-equivalent forms. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that suggests there are at least two forms of rising declaratives in English with distinct meanings. It is argued that high-rising (but not mid-rising) declaratives express a prior belief in the negative form of their propositional content.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) aa4 呀, (E) me1 咩
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 1, 2019.
Ye, Zhengdao (2014). The meaning of “happiness” (xìngfú) and “emotional pain” (tòngkŭ) in Chinese. International Journal of Language and Culture, 1(2), 194-215.
DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.1.2.04ye
Abstract:
This paper undertakes detailed meaning analyses of 幸福 xìngfú, a concept central to contemporary Chinese discourse on “happiness”, and its opposite 痛苦 tòngkŭ (‘emotional anguish/suffering/pain’). Drawing data from five Chinese corpora and applying the semantic techniques developed by NSM researchers, the present study reveals a conceptualization of happiness that is markedly different from that encoded in the English concept of happiness. Particularly, the analysis shows that the Chinese conception of 幸福 xìngfú is relational in nature, being firmly anchored in interpersonal relationships. Loosely translatable as ‘a belief that one is loved and cared for’, 幸福 xìngfú reflects the Chinese idea of love, which places emphasis on actions over words and is intrinsically related to other core cultural values, such as 孝 xiào (‘filial piety’). The chapter relates semantic discussion directly to recent research on happiness and subjective well-being involving Chinese subjects, highlighting and problematizing the role of language in the emergent and fast-growing field of happiness research and stressing the important role of culture in global “happiness studies”.
More information:
Reissued as:
Ye, Zhengdao (2016). The meaning of “happiness” (xìngfú) and “emotional pain” (tòngkŭ) in Chinese. In Cliff Goddard & Zhengdao Ye (Eds.), “Happiness” and “pain” across languages and cultures (pp. 65-86). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/bct.84.04ye
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) tòngkŭ 痛苦, (E) xìngfú 幸福
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Ye, Zhengdao (2014). Opposites in language and thought: A Chinese perspective. In Gabriella Rundblad, Aga Tytus, Olivia Knapton, & Chris Tang (Eds.), Selected papers from the 4th UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference (pp. 284-302). London: UK Cognitive Linguistics Association. PDF (open access)
There is a strong view held by many semanticists that ‘oppositeness’ is lexically embodied in every language. This suggests that antonymous thought may be an inherent feature of human cognition. However, in the available literature on the sense relations of opposites, most of the analyses in English focus on adjectives, in particular gradable adjectives. How ‘oppositeness of meaning’ is actually construed by speakers from other languages and cultures, in particular by those from non-Indo-European languages, has largely been unexplored.
This paper fills the gap by providing a Chinese language perspective. It first illustrates the critical role opposites play in the word and conceptual formation in Chinese. It then offers a fined-grained case analysis of two pairs of culturally salient complementary noun opposites designating social categories as a way of gaining insight into varied construals and conceptualizations of the nature of ‘oppositeness of meaning’.
A central methodological concern is how culturally distinctive ways of thinking about the relationships between the two members of a complementary pair can be reflected and captured. The paper proposes that the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), in particular its ‘cultural scripts’ theory branch, provides a possible solution. Related methodological issues discussed in the paper include subtypes of complementary opposites, cultural scripts vs. logical formulation, the issue of markedness, and the role of culture in the semantics of Chinese opposites.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) insiders and outsiders, (S) strangers and familiar people
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 1, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2014). “Pain” and “suffering” in cross-linguistic perspective. International Journal of Language and Culture, 1(2), 149-173.
DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.1.2.02wie
Abstract:
This paper builds on findings of the author’s 1999 book Emotions Across Languages and Cultures: Diversity and Universals, which tentatively identified eleven universals pertaining to human emotions. The paper probes some of those “emotional universals” further, especially in relation to ‘laughing’, ‘crying’, and ‘pain’. At the same time, the author continues her campaign against pseudo-universals, focusing in particular on the anthropological and philosophical discourse of “suffering”. The paper argues for the Christian origins of the concept of “suffering” lexically embodied in European languages, and contrasts it with the Buddhist concept of ‘dukkha’, usually rendered in Anglophone discussions of Buddhism with the word suffering.
More information:
Reissued as:
Wierzbicka, Anna (2016). “Pain” and “suffering” in cross-linguistic perspective. In Cliff Goddard & Zhengdao Ye (Eds.), “Happiness” and “pain” across languages and cultures (pp. 19-43). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/bct.84.02wie
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) cry, (E) douleur, (E) dukkha, (E) feel pain, (E) laugh, (E) suffer, (E) suffering, (E) weinen, (E) xiào 笑
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on May 7, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2014). Interjections and emotion (with special reference to “surprise” and “disgust”). Emotion Review, 6(1), 53-63.
DOI: 10.1177/1754073913491843
Abstract:
All languages have ‘emotive interjections’ (i.e. interjections expressing cognitively based feelings), and yet emotion researchers have invested only a tiny research effort into interjections, as compared with the huge body of research into facial expressions and words for emotion categories. This article provides an overview of the functions, meanings and cross-linguistic variability of interjections, concentrating on non-word-based ones such as Wow!, Yuck!, and Ugh! The aims are to introduce an area that will be unfamiliar to most readers, to illustrate how the NSM approach deals with interjectional meaning, and to start a discussion about an interdisciplinary research agenda for the study of emotive interjections. Examples are drawn from English, Polish, and Cantonese.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ai1 jaa3! 呢樽, (E) Fu!, (E) Gee!, (E) Gosh!, (E) Tfu!, (E) Ugh!, (E) waa3! 哇, (E) Yikes!, (E) Yuck!
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Tien, Adrian (2015). The semantics of Chinese music: Analysing selected Chinese musical concepts. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/clscc.5
Music is a widely enjoyed human experience. It is, therefore, natural that we have wanted to describe, document, analyse and, somehow, grasp it in language. This book surveys a representative selection of musical concepts in Chinese language, i.e. words that describe, or refer to, aspects of Chinese music. Important as these musical concepts are in the language, they have been in wide circulation since ancient times without being subjected to any serious semantic analysis. The current study is the first known attempt at analysing these Chinese musical concepts linguistically, adopting the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to formulate semantically and cognitively rigorous explications. Readers will be able to better understand not only these musical concepts but also significant aspects of the Chinese culture that many of these musical concepts represent. This volume contributes to the fields of cognitive linguistics, semantics, music, musicology and Chinese studies, offering readers a fresh account of Chinese ways of thinking, not least Chinese ways of viewing or appreciating music. Ultimately, this study represents trailblazing research on the relationship between language, culture and cognition.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) cai 采, (E) chi 遲, (E) dan 澹 / 淡, (E) daqi 大氣, (E) gu 古, (E) hanxu 含蓄, (E) hé 和, (E) hong 宏, (E) ji 寂, (E) jian 健, (E) jiān 堅, (E) jie 潔, (E) jing 靜, (E) li 麗, (E) liang 亮, (E) liu 溜, (E) mo 默, (E) nong 濃, (E) qing 清, (E) qing 輕, (E) qu 曲, (E) run 潤, (E) sheng 聲, (E) shi 實, (E) shici 實詞, (E) shiyin 實音, (E) su 速, (E) tian 恬, (E) wanyue 婉約, (E) wanzhuan 婉轉, (E) weiwan 委婉, (E) xi 喜, (E) xi 細, (E) xiu 休, (E) xu 虛, (E) xuci 虛詞, (E) xuyin 虛音, (E) ya 雅, (E) yi 逸, (E) yin yue 音樂, (E) yin 音, (E) yiyang duncuo 抑揚頓挫, (E) yuan 圓, (E) yuan 遠, (E) yun 韵, (E) zhong 重, (S) “sound” versus “non-sound” in music, (T) English, (T) semantic molecules
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Tien, Adrian (2015). Offensive language and sociocultural homogeneity in Singapore: An ethnolinguistic perspective. International Journal of Language and Culture, 2(2), 142-168. DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.2.2.01tie
Offensive language use in Singapore’s languacultures appears to be underpinned by cultural norms and values embraced by most if not all Singaporeans. Interviews with local informants and perusal of Singapore’s linguistic and cultural resources led to the identification of eight offensive words and phrases deemed representative of Singaporean coarseness. This set was narrowed down to a smaller set of common words and phrases, all Chinese Hokkien, all culturally laden. The finding that, although originally Hokkien, all of them are accessible not only to the Chinese-speaking population but also to speakers of Singapore Malay, Singapore Tamil, and Singapore English is compelling. The words and phrases studied in this paper are full-fledged members of the lexicon of these local non-Chinese languages, without loss or distortion of meaning. They are accepted as part of the local linguistic scene and of local cultural knowledge. At least in certain situations, people of different ethnic backgrounds who live and work together can rely on them as a testament of common identity which, in a curious way, gives voice to the sociocultural homogeneity this society unrelentingly pursues.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) cheebye, (E) Don’t kaopeh kaobu!, (E) lampah, (E) lanjiao, (S) tabooing the word cheebye, (S) tabooing the word lampah, (S) tabooing the word lanjiao, (S) unwarranted emotional outbursts, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Tien, Adrian (2016). What does it mean to “commemorate”? Linguistic and cultural evidence from Chinese. The Irish Journal of Asian Studies, 2, 1-11.
What does it mean to “commemorate”? Is commemorate or its derivations in English understood and accordingly practiced in other languages and cultures? This article demonstrates, through the case of Chinese language and culture, that people do not all share the same understanding about “commemoration” or practice it as it is in the Anglo context. Even though commemorate is translated into Chinese as jì niàn and these words show certain linguistic similarities, jì niàn is not an exact translational equivalent of the English word. Furthermore, evidence is presented to show that jì niàn is likely a recent word in Chinese, based on contemporary Chinese notions of something like to “commemorate” that reflect possible influences from the West. In drawing evidence from conventional Chinese linguistic and cultural practices, this article illustrates how Chinese “commemorate” in ways that are indigenous to them. As part of this, semantic analyses using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) are performed on the Chinese words jì niàn and zhuī yuǎn, lit. ‘to recollect the distant past’. These are then compared with the semantic analysis for commemorate in English, for an in-depth appreciation of what makes Chinese understanding of something like “commemorate” unique.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) commemorate, (E) jì niàn, (E) zhuī yuǎn, (T) English
