Browsing results for GODDARD CLIFF

(2020) Mental states

Published on February 16, 2019. Last updated on June 20, 2020.

Goddard, Cliff (2020). Overcoming the linguistic challenges for ethno-epistemology: NSM perspectives. In Masaharu Mizumoto, Jonardon Ganeri and Cliff Goddard (Eds.), Ethno-epistemology: New directions for global epistemology (pp. 130-153). New York: Routledge.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003037774-7

Abstract:

Scholars working in ethno-epistemology need to tread carefully in how they formulate their discussions in order to circumvent or minimize several dangers, such as conceptual imposition from English or other home languages, relying too heavily on some semantic subtlety peculiar to their own language, and misinterpreting unfamiliar patterns of polysemy or metaphor in another language. The NSM approach to meaning offers a well developed framework for overcoming these dangers. Based on a decades-long program of conceptual analysis and cross-linguistic empirical research, NSM is the only comprehensive approach to meaning that confronts the challenges of Anglocentrism and Eurocentrism head on, by seeking to base its representations on simple words with equivalents in all languages. It offers the prospect of authentically modelling the thoughts and meanings of ordinary native speakers, insofar as it uses non-technical words that are accessible to speakers in their own language. It also provides procedures for dealing with ambiguity and vagueness of words, including how to distinguish lexical polysemy (distinct-yet-related meanings) from semantic generality. This presentation overviews the NSM program, summarizing the research base behind it and exemplifying its key concepts and methods with examples relevant to ethno-epistemology. The paper contends that the NSM program can provide a metalanguage for ethno-epistemology.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2020) Spanish – Interpersonal Closeness

Published on November 22, 2020. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

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.

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Written in Spanish.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2021) English – Economy

Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.

Goddard, Cliff, & Sadow, Lauren. (2021). “It’s the Economy, Stupid”: The Everyday Semantics of a Geopolitical Key Word. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics, 5(2021), 226–238

(Open Access)

 

Abstract:

Despite its Anglo/Euro origins, there can be no doubt that ‘(the) economy’ is a key word in the discourse of global geopolitics. This study explicates the lexical/conceptual semantics of the expression in everyday English, using the NSM approach to meaning description. Unlike most dictionaries, we draw a distinction between two different senses: a “people-focussed”, experience-near sense (‘economy-1’), and a broader, more “educated” concept (‘economy-2’). Both senses can be regarded as folk concepts designating what philosopher Jeremy Bentham termed “fictitious entities” which belong to a certain mental ontology and support certain kinds of discourse. The results shed light on how and why ‘the economy’ has such a totalising power over many discourses: national, international and global.

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2021) English, Murrinhpatha, Lardil – Pronouns, ‘We’

Published on November 11, 2020. Last updated on November 11, 2020.

Goddard, Cliff & Anna Wierzbicka (2021). “We”: conceptual semantics, linguistic typology and social cognition. Language Sciences, 83.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101327

Abstract:

This paper explores “we-words” in the languages of the world, using the NSM method of semantic analysis. A simply phrased, cross-translatable explication for English ‘we’ [1pl] is proposed, suitable also for other languages with a single we-word. At the same time, it is argued that English ‘we’ co-lexicalises a second distinct meaning “we two” [1du], and that the same goes for other languages with a single we-word. The two explications are identical, except for being based on ALL and TWO, respectively. Both explications involve components of “I-inclusion” (roughly, ‘I am one of them’) and “subjective identification” (roughly, ‘I’m thinking about them all in the same way’). It is argued, furthermore, that both meanings (“we-all” and “we-two”) are likely to be found in all languages. To establish this, one has to take account of languages which manifest the “inclusive/exclusive” distinction. For such languages, evidence suggests that one of the two we-words contains a semantic component of “you-inclusion”, while the other is semantically unmarked. Languages whose “we words” encode kinship relations are also briefly considered. The analysis has implications for the typology of pronoun systems, for theorising about human social cognition, and for the lexical semantics of key social concepts.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2021) Minimal languages – Coronavirus

Published on August 19, 2021. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

Goddard, Cliff. (2021). “Minimal language” and COVID-19: How to talk about complex ideas using simple words. 국어문학 [Society of Korean Language and Literature] 77. (2021): 125-144.

 

Abstract:

This paper presents an expanded version of a keynote lecture given to the annual conference of the Society of Korean Language and Literature (국어문학), 18 February 2021.

This lecture has four Parts. Part 1 briefly discusses ‘Critical communication issues in the pandemic era’, focussing on the need to use clear, simple language that everyone can understand. Part 2 explains what “minimal languages” are and how they have emerged from empirical research in linguistics. Part 3 presents and discusses examples of how to write about aspects of COVID-19 using minimal language. Part 4 addresses the implications for education and public policy.

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2021) Minimal Languages – Health

Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.

Goddard, Cliff; Vanhatalo, Ulla; Hane, Amie A.; & Welch, Martha G. (2021). Adapting the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) into Minimal English and Seven Other Minimal Languages. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 225-254

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_9

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2021) Minimal Languages in Action [BOOK]

Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.

Goddard, Cliff (ed.). (2021). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan

DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4 

This edited book explores the rising interest in minimal languages – radically simplified languages using cross-translatable words and grammar, fulfilling the widely-recognised need to use language which is clear, accessible and easy to translate. The authors draw on case studies from around the world to demonstrate how early adopters have been putting Minimal English, Minimal Finnish, and other minimal languages into action: in language teaching and learning, ‘easy language’ projects, agricultural development training, language revitalisation, intercultural education, paediatric assessment, and health messaging. As well as reporting how minimal languages are being put into service, the contributors explore how minimal languages can be adapted, localised and implemented differently for different purposes. Like its predecessor Minimal English for a Global World: Improved Communication Using Fewer Words (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), the book will appeal to students and scholars of applied linguistics, language education and translation studies, as well as to professionals in any field where accessibility and translatability matter.

 

Contents

1. In Praise of Minimal Languages Cliff Goddard pp 1-26
Part I: Finding the Best Words
2. Balancing the Local with the Universal: Minimal English and Agricultural Training in the Pacific Deborah Hill pp 29-51
3. The Hunt for the Simplest Possible Vocabulary: Minimal Finnish Meets Easy Finnish Leealaura Leskelä, Ulla Vanhatalo pp 53-82
4. Minimal English and Revitalisation Education: Assisting Linguists to Explain Grammar in Simple, Everyday Words Elita Machin pp 83-107
Part II: Language Learning and Intercultural Education
5. Using Minimal English (Minimal Spanish, Etc.) for Non-circular Learners’ Dictionaries David Bullock pp 111-137
6. Standard Translatable English: A Minimal English for Teaching and Learning Invisible Culture in Language Classrooms Lauren Sadow pp 139-169
7. From Cultural to Pedagogical Scripts: Speaking Out in English, French, and Russian Bert Peeters pp 171-193
8. Using Minimal Language to Help Foreign Learners Understand Korean Honorifics Jeong-Ae Lee pp 195-221
Part III: Health
9. Adapting the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) into Minimal English and Seven Other Minimal Languages Cliff Goddard, Ulla Vanhatalo, Amie A. Hane, Martha G. Welch pp 225-254
10. Ways of Thinking and Talking about Cancer Magdalena Juda pp 255-279
11. Minimal English for Health: Reader Accessibility in Public Health Communication About COVID-19 in Australia (with Contrastive Reference to Denmark) Ida Stevia Diget pp 281-318
12. Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus Anna Wierzbicka pp 319-345

(2021) Molecules — Body parts

Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 15, 2022.

Goddard, Cliff, and Wierzbicka, Anna. (2021). ‘HEAD’, ‘EYES’, ‘EARS’: Words and meanings as clues to common human thinking, « ‘TÊTE’, ‘YEUX’, ‘OREILLES’ : mots et sens comme indices de la pensée humaine commune », Cahiers de lexicologie, n° 119, 2021 – 2, Lexique et corps humain , p. 125-150

Written in English

Résumé

Y a-t-il une manière de penser le corps partagée par tous ? Nous proposons des explications sémantiques et conceptuelles basées sur la MSN pour trois mots de parties du corps qui pourraient être considérés comme universaux sémantiques en prenant en compte la polysémie et d’autres particularités. L’analyse montre que la compréhension conceptuelle du corps est plus riche qu’on ne le pense, impliquant des relations entre les parties, la position, la taille, les relations spatiales et la fonction

Abstract

Are there any ways of thinking about the body that are shared by people everywhere? We propose NSM semantic-conceptual explications for three body-part words and argue that they are plausible language universals, once polysemy and other complications are taken into account. The analysis shows that conceptual understanding of the body and its parts is much richer than often recognised, involving whole-part relations, position, size, spatial relationships, and functional affordances.

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2022) English, molecules — Money

Published on January 31, 2022. Last updated on April 8, 2022.

Goddard, Cliff, Wierzbicka, Anna & Farese, Gian Marco. (2022). The conceptual semantics of “money” and “money verbs”. Russian Journal of Linguistics 26(1) 7–20. https://doi.org/10.22363/2687-0088-27193

Open Access

 

Abstract

The central purpose of this study is to apply the NSM (Natural Semantic Metalanguage) method of semantic-conceptual analysis to the word ‘money’ and to related “economic transaction” verbs, such as ‘buy’, ‘sell’ and ‘pay’, as used in everyday English. It proposes semantic explications for these words on the basis of conceptual analysis and a range of linguistic evidence and taking account of lexical polysemy. Even in its basic meaning (in a sentence like ‘there was some money on the table’), ‘money-1’ is shown to be surprisingly complex, comprising about 35 lines of semantic text and drawing on a number of semantic molecules (such as ‘country’, ‘number’, and ‘hands’), as well as a rich assortment of semantic primes. This ‘money-1’ meaning turns out to be a crucial semantic molecule in the composition of the verbs ‘buy’, ‘sell’, ‘pay’, and ‘(it) costs’. Each of these is treated in some detail, thereby bringing to light the complex semantic relationships between them and clarifying how this bears on their grammatical properties, such as argument structure. The concluding section considers how NSM semantic-conceptual analysis can help illuminate everyday economic thinking and also how it connects with Humanonics, an interdisciplinary project which aims to “re-humanise” economics.

 


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(Forthcoming) English, German – Emotions

Published on August 8, 2018. Last updated on October 19, 2019.

Goddard, Cliff (Forthcoming). Vocabulary of emotions and its development in English, German and other languages. In Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Jeanette Altarriba, & Bee Chin Ng (Eds.), Handbook of language and emotion. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Abstract:

In broad agreement with many emotion theorists, the NSM approach sees emotion concepts as “blends” of feelings and thoughts, sometimes accompanied by potential bodily reactions. This chapter delineates the semantic fundamentals of emotion vocabulary, demonstrates a framework for fine-grained contrastive analysis, and emphasizes the greater-than-expected semantic variability across languages, epochs, and cultures.

Using examples from English and German, the chapter summarizes findings about semantic templates and semantic components of various kinds of emotion terms, including adjectives (e.g. afraid, angry, ashamed), verbs (e.g. miss, worry), and abstract nouns (e.g. happiness, depression). Minor categories and examples from other, non-European, languages are also briefly considered. It is shown that it is both possible and necessary to differentiate between similar-but-different emotion concepts in a single language, e.g. English happy, pleased, satisfied, and across different languages, e.g. English disgust vs. German Ekel. Likewise, using English happy and happiness as examples, the author shows that the same word can vary in meaning across time. Considerable weight is placed on linguistic evidence such as usage patterns, collocational data, and phraseology.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners