Browsing results for GODDARD CLIFF
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2001). Lexico-semantic universals: A critical overview. Linguistic Typology, 5(1), 1-65. DOI: 10.1515/lity.5.1.1
Are there any word meanings which are absolute and precise lexico-semantic universals, and if so, what kind of meanings are they? This paper assesses the status, in a diverse range of languages, of about 100 meanings which have been proposed by various scholars (linguists, anthropologists, psychologists) as potential universals. Examples include: ‘I’, ‘this’, ‘one’, ‘big’, ‘good’, ‘true’, ‘sweet’, ‘hot’, ‘man’, ‘mother’, ‘tree’, ‘water’, ‘sun’, ‘wind’, ‘ear’, ‘say’, ‘do’, ‘go’, ‘sit’, ‘eat’, ‘give’, ‘die’, ‘maybe’, ‘because’. Though relatively small, the sample is variegated enough to justify the preliminary conclusion that the semantic primes proposed by Wierzbicka (1996) and colleagues are much stronger contenders for universal status than are terms designating natural phenomena, body parts, concrete objects, and other putative experiential or cultural universals.
Tags: (E) give, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2001). Universal units in the lexicon. In Martin Haspelmath, Ekkehard König, Wulf Oesterreicher, & Wolfgang Raible (Eds.), Language typology and language universals: An international handbook: Vol. 2 (pp. 1190-1203). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110171549.2.11.1190
It is impossible to proclaim with absolute certainty that any meaning is universally attested as the meaning of a lexical unit in all languages. The sample of languages on which we are able to obtain information and analysis of the necessary quality is too small. This does not mean, however, that no firm conclusions can be reached.
First, even a small sample of languages shows that only very few meanings have any chance at all of being universal. Many impressionistically “basic” items of English vocabulary (such as go, water, and eat) lack precise equivalents in other languages.
Second, it emerges very clearly that it is among the semantic primes identified within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach that the best candidates for the status of universal meanings are found. Of the 25 or so prime meanings we consider in this paper, all are strong candidates for universal status. On the other hand, of the 25 or so NON-prime candidates for universal status reviewed in this article, only ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘mother’, ‘day’, and ‘make’ seem to have much hope of being lexical universals.
Constraints of space prevent us from canvassing the entire inventory of 55-odd NSM primes. Aside from various predicates we do not examine (including say, see, hear, there is, have, live, die), there are entire “minidomains” of temporal, spatial, and “logical” meanings we leave untouched. Though it is too early to be conclusive, sufficient cross-linguistic evidence is available to indicate that all or most of them are plausible lexical universals.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 22, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2001). Hati: A key word in the Malay vocabulary of emotion. In Jean Harkins, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 167-195). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110880168.167
Abstract:
The word hati is one of the key words of Malay culture: it functions as a conceptual focal point for an entire complex of characteristically Malay values, attitudes and expectations. By studying the meaning and uses of this one word we can learn a surprising amount about Malay culture – in particular, about the conceptualization of emotion in Malay culture.
The aims of this paper are threefold: first, to outline the range of use and collocational possibilities of hati, informally comparing and contrasting it with English heart; second, to advance and argue for an explicit semantic explication of hati in its core or central meaning (as in an expression like hati orang ‘a person’s hati‘); third, to explicate the semantics of five common fixed expressions involving hati, all of which designate what we might term feeling states or emotional reactions: susah hati ‘troubled, worried’, senang hati ‘relaxed, easy at heart’; sakit hati ‘annoyed, offended’, puas hati ‘satisfied (with someone)’, and kecil hati ‘feel hurt’.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) hati orang, (E) heart, (E) kecil hati, (E) puas hati, (E) sakit hati, (E) senang hati, (E) susah hati, (T) Malay
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2001). The polyfunctional Malay focus particle pun. Multilingua, 20(1), 27-59. DOI: 10.1515/multi.2001.002
This is a study of the usage and semantics of the focus particle pun in contemporary Malay (Bahasa Melayu), the national language of Malaysia. Drawing on a sizeable corpus of naturally occurring textual examples, I propose a small set of semantic explications for pun, within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework. The polyfunctionality of pun, and its diverse range of translation equivalents and effects, is shown to be attributable partly to polysemy and partly to the operation of contextual inference.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2001). Conceptual primes in early language development. In Martin Pütz, & Susanne Niemeier (Eds.), Applied Cognitive Linguistics: Vol. 1. Theory and language acquisition (pp. 193-227). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110866247.193
The present study explores certain hypotheses about the nature and identities of the innate concepts which may underpin language acquisition. These hypotheses have arisen from one of the most promising and productive approaches to cognitive semantics – the natural semantic metalangage (NSM) approach originated by Anna Wierzbicka. Though the NSM approach has been responsible for literally hundreds of descriptive studies in lexical and grammatical semantics and pragmatics across a wide range of languages, it has not been applied very extensively to language acquisition. I hope to show, however, that the NSM approach generates interesting research hypotheses on language acquisition and allows for increased precision and testability in the notoriously difficult area of child language semantics. In particular, it enables one to propose concrete and constrained semantic analyses of early “child meanings”, proposals of a kind which are surprisingly sparse in the otherwise abundant literature on early lexical development.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). Explicating emotions across languages and cultures: A semantic approach. In Susan R. Fussell (Ed.), The verbal communication of emotions: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 19-53). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
This chapter sketches out the integrated and meaning-based approach to the study of emotions that has been pioneered by Anna Wierzbicka. It seeks to bring together the study of the emotion lexicon of different languages with the study of different “cultural scripts” that are one factor (among others, of course) influencing the expression of emotions in discourse. More than this, it also aims to take in the encoding of emotional meanings by means of other linguistic devices, such as exclamations and specialized grammatical constructions, and even the encoding of emotional meanings in facial expressions and kinaesthetics. Because the Natural Semantic Metalanguage is based on simple, universally available meanings, it provides a tool that enables us to undertake this very broad range of investigations across languages and cultures, while minimizing the risk of ethnocentrism creeping into the very terms of description.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) amae 甘え, (E) appalled, (E) cemburu, (E) outraged, (E) przykro, (E) sad, (E) unhappy, (S) apologizing, (S) causing 'bad feelings' in others, (S) cheerfulness, (S) displaying insincere good feelings towards someone, (S) emotional caution and sensitivity, (S) responding to favours in a positive way, (S) saying what you feel
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). On and on: Verbal explications for a polysemic network. Cognitive Linguistics, 13(3), 277-294. DOI: 10.1515/cogl.2002.019
The semantics of spatial prepositions has been much studied in cognitive linguistics, but not previously in terms in terms of verbal explication. This article analyzes prepositional on-constructions which concern the location of one physical object in relation to another (e.g., cup on the table, pendant on a chain, handle on the door, fins on its back), using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna Wierzbicka. Four semantically discrete categories are identified and each is assigned a verbal paraphrase (explication) framed in the metalanguage of semantic primes. The semantic interrelationships between these meanings are briefly explored.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). Overcoming terminological ethnocentrism. IIAS Newsletter, 27, 28. PDF (open access)
Terminological ethnocentrism is an insidious, and often unrecognized, problem in cultural description. It occurs when words of one language/culture, typically English, are uncritically used to describe deeply cultural meanings of another language/culture, with an inevitable distortion of meaning. Scholars often view the so-called “problem of translation” as intractable, but new research in linguistics suggests a way forward. A solution is offered by the programme of semantic research led by the distinguished linguist Anna Wierzbicka. The key idea is that there is a small set of simple, basic meanings (semantic primes) which can be expressed clearly and precisely in all languages. Semantic primes offer a way around terminological ethnocentrism while at the same time allowing culture-specific concepts to be explicated with great detail and clarity.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 3, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). Ethnosyntax, ethnopragmatics, sign-functions, and culture. In N. J. Enfield (Ed.) Ethnosyntax: Explorations in grammar and culture (pp. 52-73). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199266500.003.0003
This chapter articulates and discusses the concept of ethnosyntax from the standpoint of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory of Anna Wierzbicka and colleagues. It recognizes two senses of the term ‘ethnosyntax’: a narrow sense referring to culture-related semantic content encoded in morphosyntax, and a broad sense encompassing a much wider range of phenomena in which grammar and culture may be related. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 3.1 discusses ethnosyntax in the narrow sense, illustrating it with a slightly reinterpreted version of some of Wierzbicka’s classic work on ‘fatalism’ in Russian grammar. Section 3.2 discusses the relationship between ethnosyntax and ethnopragmatics, drawing on the NSM theory of cultural scripts. Section 3.3 argues for the importance of recognizing that language involves different kinds of sign-function — semantic (symbolic), iconic, indexical — and asks how we can deal with ethnosyntactic connections in the field of iconic-indexical meaning. Section 3.4 broadens the focus further in an effort to situate ethnosyntax in a large semiotic theory of culture, but argues that a semiotic concept of culture is not viable unless it adequately recognizes iconic and indexical, as well as semantic phenomena.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). *Lexical decomposition II: Conceptual axiology. In D. Alan Cruse, Franz Hundsnurscher, Michael Job, & Peter Rolf Lutzeier (Eds.), Lexicology. An international handbook on the nature and structure of words and vocabularies: Vol. 1 (pp. 256-268). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
This article explains and demonstrates the theory of lexical decomposition originated by Anna Wierzbicka (1972, 1980, 1992, 1996, among other works); cf. Goddard and Wierzbicka (1994, In press), Goddard (1998). Wierzbicka and colleagues refer to their approach as the “Natural Semantic Metalanguage” (NSM) theory. It is sometimes referred to as a version of “conceptual axiology”. An earlier designation is the “semantic primitives” approach. The foundational assumption of the NSM theory is that the meanings expressible in any language can be adequately described by means of language-internal reductive paraphrase. That is, the theory assumes, first, that any natural language is adequate as its own semantic metalanguage, and, second, that any semantically complex expression can be explicated by means of an exact paraphrase composed on simpler, more intelligible terms. By relying on reductive paraphrase the NSM approach is safeguarded against the twin pitfalls of circularity and obscurity which dog other “definitional” approaches to semantic analysis. No technical terms, neologisms, logical symbols, or abbreviations are allowed in NSW explications – only plain words from ordinary natural language.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). Semantic primes and universal grammar in Malay (Bahasa Melayu). In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar – Theory and empirical findings: Vol. 1 (pp. 87-172). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.60.10god
My primary goal is to test whether the currently proposed NSM semantic primes have lexical exponents in Malay and whether they can be combined according to the current hypotheses about NSM syntax. Generally speaking the results are positive though I will propose several revisions to our picture of NSM syntax on the basis of the Malay data, at appropriate points in the chapter. Throughout the chapter, I will also try to note alternative polysemic meanings of the various lexical exponents and, where appropriate, the existence of language-specific constructions conveying the kinds of meaning combinations we are interested in. In this way I want to convey a better sense of the individual character of Malay as a language.
Overall, however, the majority of the current NSM proposals do hold up well so far as Malay is concerned. It is now clear that the syntax of the NSM metalanguage has a very rich – and in some ways very complex – texture. It therefore seems particularly intriguing that this rich and detailed texture appears to be shared by languages which are otherwise so different in their structure.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 9, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). Directive speech acts in Malay (Bahasa Melayu): An ethnopragmatic perspective. Cahiers de praxématique, 38, 113-143.
The focus of the present study is the semantics and ethnopragmatics of a set of Malay speech act verbs. I hope to demonstrate that the lexical-semantic and cultural-pragmatic aspects of the analysis are mutually reinforcing and mutually informative. On the basis of cultural-pragmatic facts, I will discount polysemy for ajak ‘encourage, urge’ and pujuk ‘coax, comfort’, while lexical-semantic analysis of suruh ‘tell to do’ and minta ‘ask for’ will highlight the Malay cultural constraints against explicitly expressing the message ‘I want you to do this’. The conceptual structure and presuppositions of nasihat ‘advice, counsel’ will be shown to be strongly congruent with its characteristic forms of expression. In these and other ways, I hope to show not only that lexical semantics and cultural pragmatics are tightly intertwined in Malay, but also to illustrate the value of an ethnopragmatic approach to speech acts in general.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ajak, (E) ask, (E) minta, (E) nasihat, (E) order, (E) pesan, (E) pujuk, (E) suggest, (E) suruh, (S) inhibiting people from expressing explicit directive messages, (T) English + Malay
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 17, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (Eds.) (2002). Meaning and universal grammar: Theory and empirical findings. 2 volumes. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.60 (vol. 1), 10.1075/slcs.61 (vol. 2)
This book develops a bold new approach to universal grammar, based on research findings of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) program. The key idea is that universal grammar is constituted by the inherent grammatical properties of some 60 empirically established semantic primes, which appear to have concrete exponents in all languages. For six typologically divergent languages (Mangaaba-Mbula, Mandarin Chinese, Lao, Malay, Spanish and Polish), contributors (Robert D. Bugenhagen, Hilary Chappell, N.J. Enfield, Cliff Goddard, Catherine Travis, and Anna Wierzbicka, respectively) identify exponents of the primes and work through a substantial set of hypotheses about their combinatorics, valency properties, complementation options, etc. Each study can also be read as a semantically-based typological profile. Four theoretical chapters by the editors describe the NSM approach and its application to grammatical typology. As a study of empirical universals in grammar, this book is unique for its rigorous semantic orientation, its methodological consistency, and its wealth of cross-linguistic detail.
All chapters in this volume are also listed separately. For more details on individual chapters, see the relevant entry.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). The on-going development of the NSM research program. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar – Theory and empirical findings: Vol. 2 (pp. 301-321). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.61.11god
The NSM model of universal grammar is still evolving. The goal of this closing chapter to the two Meaning and universal grammar volumes is to give a sense of the character of ongoing research work in the NSM program, especially the interplay between theory and practice.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Semantic primes and universal grammar. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar – Theory and empirical findings: Vol. 1 (pp. 41-85). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.60.08god
The thirty-year program of semantic research inaugurated in Wierzbicka (1972) has reached the point where it has become possible to articulate a detailed and concrete account of exactly what the unity of all grammars consists in; that is, to delineate where the line runs between what is constant and what is variable, what is essential and what is “accidental”, what is universal and what is language-specific.
The main purpose of this chapter is to describe the proposed model of universal grammar; i.e. the inherent syntactic properties of universal semantic primes. We also establish some basic metalinguistic terminology, building on the firm conceptual foundation of semantic primes.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 22, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Semantics and cognition. In Lynn Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cognitive science (pp. 1096-1102). New York: John Wiley.
Abstract:
The words and grammar of any language encode a vast array of prepackaged concepts, most of them complex and culture-related. Since language plays an important role in normal human cognition, the nature and extent of semantic variation across languages is a key research question for cognitive science.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) duša душа
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2002). The search for the shared semantic core of all languages. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar – Theory and empirical findings: Vol. 1 (pp. 5-41). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.60.07god
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on January 26, 2020.
Goddard, Cliff (2003). Yes or no? The complex semantics of a simple question. In Peter Collins, & Mengistu Amberber (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2002 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. Online.
PDF (open access)
Abstract:
This short paper investigates the semantics of yes/no questions, using the reductive paraphrase methodology of the NSM approach. It is shown that the apparent simplicity of yes/no questions is illusory, and that yes/no questions can be decomposed – both semantically and syntactically – into simpler structures.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) don't know if, (E) yes-no questions
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 16, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (2003). Whorf meets Wierzbicka: Variation and universals in language and thinking. Language Sciences, 25(4), 393-432. DOI: 10.1016/S0388-0001(03)00002-0
Probably no contemporary linguist has published as profusely on the connections between semantics, culture, and cognition as Anna Wierzbicka. This paper explores the similarities and differences between her ‘‘Natural Semantic Metalanguage’’ (NSM) approach and the linguistic theory of Benjamin Lee Whorf. It shows that while some work by Wierzbicka and colleagues can be seen as ‘‘neo-Whorfian’’, other aspects of the NSM program are ‘‘counter-Whorfian’’. Issues considered include the meaning of linguistic relativity, the nature of conceptual universals and the consequences for semantic methodology, the importance of polysemy, and the scale and locus of semantic variation between languages, particularly in relation to the domain of time. Examples are drawn primarily from English, Russian, and Hopi.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2003). Dynamic ter– in Malay (Bahasa Melayu): A study in grammatical polysemy. Studies in Language, 27(2), 287-322. DOI: 10.1075/sl.27.2.04god
This paper undertakes a fine-grained semantic analysis of some of the multiple uses of the polyfunctional verbal prefix ter– in Malay (Bahasa Melayu), the national language of Malaysia. The analysis is conducted within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna
Wierzbicka, supported by examples drawn from a large corpus of naturally occuring Malay texts. The main goals are to accurately describe the full range of meanings, and to decide to what extent apparent differences are contextually-induced as opposed to being semantically encoded. In the end, seven
distinct but interrelated lexico-semantic schemas are identified, constituting a network of grammatical polysemy.
