Sadow, Lauren., & Fernández, Susana. S. (2022) Pedagogical Pragmatics: Natural Semantic Metalanguage Applications to Language Learning and Teaching. Scandinavian Studies in Language, 13(1), 53-66. https://tidsskrift.dk/sss/article/view/135071
(2022) Scandinavian languages, Danish – NSM
Levisen, Carsten, Fernández, Susana S., and Hein, Jan (2022) Cognitive Cultural Semantics: A Nordic Guide to Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Scandinavian Studies in Language 13(1): 1–38. https://tidsskrift.dk/sss/article/view/135133.
No abstract available
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2021) Popular Geopolitics
Levisen, Carsten, & Fernández, Susana S. (2021). Words, People and Place: Linguistics Meets Popular Geopolitics. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics, 5(2021), 1–11
Abstract
The language of everyday life is thick with geopolitical meaning. Everyday words, grammars, and stories are full of significant postulates about what the world is like. Habitual thinking about the world, its people and places, is guided by conceptual categories, created through, and supported by linguistic patterns and practices.
The language of everyday life allows many specific ways of conceptualizing and imagining people in places, but linguistics, the main discipline concerned with the study of the world’s languages, has not always seen and envisioned this link to geopolitics clearly. Due to the hesitant role of linguistics, the role of language(s) in geopolitical knowledge production has often been left to be studied by scholars of other disciplines. Stepping up to the challenge, we have in this volume invited linguists who work in many different areas and through different approaches to contribute to the emerging interdiscipline called ‘Popular Geopolitics’ (Saunders & Strukov 2018). The core idea behind this interdiscipline is that “geopolitical knowledges”, i.e. what people know and think about places (territories, cities, countries, etc.), and about people in these places (belonging, power relations, social cognition, etc.), is not only determined by the conceptualizations of diplomats, pundits, politicians, and political scientists, but just as much by everyday discourses and popular culture.
(2021) Spanish, Danish – Language Teaching
Fernández, Susana S. (2021). The Conceptual Semantics of ‘Latin America’: Popular Geopolitics and Spanish Language Teaching in Denmark. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics, 5(2021), 31–54
Abstract:
This article explores how the concept of ‘Latin America’ is constructed in connection with the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in Denmark, and how it is received and understood by Spanish learners in the country. The paper explores the concept of Latin America from different perspectives: Danish learners, young Latin Americans and through a historical overview, in order to embrace its complexity. The hypothesis is that the conceptualization of ‘Latin America’ in the context of language teaching in Denmark does not do justice to the diversity and richness of the geographical area and its peoples.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2020) Spanish – Interpersonal Closeness
Fernández, Susana S. & Cliff Goddard. (2020). Una aproximación al estilo comunicativo de cercanía interpersonal del español a partir de la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural [An Approach to the Spanish Communicative Style of Interpersonal Closeness from the Theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage]. Pragmática Sociocultural / Sociocultural Pragmatics, 7(3), 469-493.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/soprag-2019-0022 (Open Access)
Resumen:
El presente artículo discute un estilo comunicativo típico de muchos hispanohablantes, que a menudo ha sido caracterizado en la literatura sobre pragmática y comunicación intercultural como de cercanía interpersonal y de confianza. El punto de partida teórico y metodológico es la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural (NSM, por sus siglas en inglés), que propone el uso de un minivocabulario de conceptos básicos para explicar otros más com- plejos. En este caso, presentamos descripciones (que en la teoría se denominan guiones culturales) de distintos aspectos de este estilo comunicativo de cercanía y de palabras claves culturales y rasgos gramaticales relacionados con este modo de comunicar al que, consciente o inconscientemente, adhieren muchos hispanohablantes. Nos basamos en trabajos ya realizados por otros autores dentro de la NSM y proponemos también nuevas descripciones.
Abstract:
This article discusses a communicative style typical of many Spanish speakers, which has often been characterized in the literature on pragmatics and intercultural communication as interpersonal closeness. The theoretical and methodological starting point for the present analysis is the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), which proposes the use of a minivocabulary of basic concepts to explain complex ones. In this case, we present descriptions – called cultural scripts within the theory – of different aspects of this communicative style of closeness and analyze cultural keywords and grammatical features related to this way of communicating, which, consciously or unconsciously, many Spanish speakers adhere to. We rely on work already done by other authors within NSM and we also propose new descriptions.
More information:
Written in Spanish.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2019) Spanish – NSM
Fernández, Susana S. (2019). Una introducción a la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural (NSM) y su aplicación a la pragmática [An introduction to the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and its application to pragmatics]. Pragmática Sociocultural / Sociocultural Pragmatics, 7(3), 397-420.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/soprag-2019-0023 / Open access
Resumen:
Este artículo expone los principios de la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural (NSM , originalmente propuesta por Wierzbicka y luego desarrollada en una serie de trabajos por Anna Wierzbicka y Cliff Goddard, además de otros académicos que trabajan en el campo. El objetivo es presentar cómo esta teoría se ha aplicado al estudio de la semántica y de la pragmática para analizar distintos aspectos de los hábitos lingüísticos de un determinado grupo cultural sin recurrir a modelos de universalidad, sino más bien trabajando desde dentro de la lengua estudiada para reconocer conceptos claves y estilos comunicativos que le son propios. El artículo presenta los conceptos de explicaciones semánticas y guiones culturales, que son explicaciones redactadas con la metodología de paráfrasis reductora a través de la herramienta de la NSM. La NSM es un minilengua compuesta por una serie de conceptos muy básicos y traducibles a todas las lenguas que sirven como punto de partida para explicar conceptos más complejos. Esta teoría ha sido complementada por Cliff Goddard con el concepto de lengua mínima, que también se presentará en el artículo. El artículo concluye con una exposición de las similitudes y diferencias que existen entre esta forma de hacer pragmática intercultural y la propuesta por otras teorías de la pragmática, incluida la teoría de la Pragmática Sociocultural de Diana Bravo y sus colegas.
Abstract:
This article presents the principles of the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), originally proposed by Wierzbicka and further developed in a series of publications by Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard, as well as by other scholars working in the field. The goal of the article is to present how this theory has been applied to the study of semantics and pragmatics in order to analyse different aspects of the linguistic habits of a particular cultural group without resorting to models of universality, but instead working from an insider’s perspective to recognize key concepts and communicative styles that belong to the group. The article presents the concepts of semantic explications and cultural scripts, which are explanations written through the method of reductive paraphrase making use of the tool of NSM. NSM is a mini-language composed of a series of very basic concepts, translatable to all languages, which are the basis for explaining complex concepts. Cliff Goddard has complemented this theory with the concept of Minimal Language, which will also be presented in the article. The article concludes with an exposition of similarities and differences between this way of doing intercultural pragmatics and other theories of pragmatics, including the theory of Sociocultural Pragmatics proposed by Diana Bravo and her colleagues.
More information:
Written in Spanish.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2020) Ethnopragmatics, intercultural learning
Fernández, Susana S. (2020). Using NSM and “Minimal” Language for intercultural learning. In Lauren Sadow, Bert Peeters, & Kerry Mullan (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 3. Minimal English (and beyond) (pp. 191-212). Singapore: Springer.
Abstract:
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how the learning and teaching of intercultural competence can be substantially enhanced by the use of NSM and/or some form of “minimal” language (inspired by Goddard 2018a) Minimal English. The affordances of the NSM theory of intercultural semantics and pragmatics (e.g., Goddard 2006; Wierzbicka 1997) for intercultural learning are, at least, twofold. On the one hand, the theory brings into focus cultural keywords and cultural scripts, which are crucial to the understanding of how a particular group thinks about and performs communication and social relations. On the other hand, NSM offers a set of few, simple, and cross-translatable concepts that can prove useful in the context of the classroom, to talk about keywords and cultural scripts and to explain complex language-specific grammatical features. The acquisition of intercultural compe- tence, also called intercultural communicative competence (Byram 1997), is the main goal of foreign and second language courses today, where the focus is on helping the learner to become a competent intercultural speaker and user of the language. Intercultural competence is also the target of courses on intercultural communication (for instance, university courses for humanities or business stu- dents), which normally provide an introduction to culture and communication theories. Both foreign/second language courses and intercultural communication courses would profit from a systematic approach to grammar, to the semantics of cultural keywords, and to pragmatics, which does not rely on heavily culturally loaded (and potentially Anglocentric) complex concepts. In this chapter, I propose different ways in which NSM can be used in these contexts, both at a theoretical level and based on my own experiences with the implementation of NSM in the classroom.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2016) Ethnopragmatics, foreign language teaching
Fernández, Susana S. (2016). Etnopragmatik og interkulturel competence: Didaktiske nytænkninger i fremmedsprogsundervisningen [Ethnopragmatics and intercultural competence: Didactic innovations in foreign language teaching]. Ny forskning i grammatik, 23, 38-54.
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible pedagogical application of ethnopragmatics in the field of language learning and teaching with the purpose of promoting intercultural communicative competence. Ethnopragmatics examines cultural aspects of language and communication from an insider’s perspective. Its pedagogical potential lies in its consistent attempts to unravel the values, beliefs and norms that underpin the verbal behaviours of a cultural group and to do so without cultural bias.
More information:
Written in Danish. An earlier English version of this paper was published as:
Fernández, Susana S. (2016). Possible contributions of ethnopragmatics to second language learning and teaching. In Sten Vikner, Henrik Jørgensen, & Elly van Gelderen (Eds.), Let us have articles betwixt us: Papers in historical and comparative linguistics in honour of Johanna L. Wood (pp. 185-206). Aarhus: Aarhus University.
Rating:
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
(2016) Ethnopragmatics, foreign language learning
Fernández, Susana S. (2016). Possible contributions of ethnopragmatics to second language learning and teaching. In Sten Vikner, Henrik Jørgensen & Elly van Gelderen (Eds.), Let us have articles betwixt us: Papers in historical and comparative linguistics in honour of Johanna L. Wood (pp. 185-206). Aarhus: Aarhus University.
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible pedagogical application of the theory of Ethnopragmatics in the field of second and foreign language learning and teaching with the purpose of promoting intercultural communicative competence.
Ethnopragmatics can be seen as part of the broad paradigm of Cognitive Linguistics. Unlike other theories of pragmatics, its focus is on examining cultural aspects of language and communication from an insider’s perspective, without relying on universal concepts such as politeness, directness/indirectness, etc. that can be foreign to many cultures. Its main methodological tool is NSM, used in so-called explications but also in cultural scripts that reflect widely shared ways of thinking. The latter can be reformulated into pedagogical scripts that can be used in second language learning and teaching.
More information:
A more recent publication building on this one is:
Fernández, Susana S. (2016). Etnopragmatik og interkulturel competence: Didaktiske nytænkninger i fremmedsprogsundervisningen [Ethnopragmatics and intercultural competence: Didactic innovations in foreign language teaching]. Ny forskning i grammatik, 23, 38-54.
Rating:
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
 |
Crude application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
 |
Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
|
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
|
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners |
|
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners |