Browsing results for Main Authors

(2002) Polish – NSM primes, NSM syntax

Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Semantic primes and universal grammar in Polish. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar: Theory and empirical findings: Vol. 2 (pp. 65-144). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

(2002) Russian – Cultural scripts

Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Russian cultural scripts: The theory of cultural scripts and its applications. Ethos, 30(4), 401-432.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.2002.30.4.401

Abstract:

Cultural scripts reflect shared cultural understandings. They are representations of cultural norms that are widely held in a given society and that are reflected in language (in culture-specific key words, phrases, conversational routines, and so on). A key methodological principle in the theory underlying this article (a study in ethnopragmatics avant la lettre) is that the proposed cultural scripts must be formulated in NSM. The author argues that cultural scripts formulated in universal human concepts allow us to understand cultural norms and attitudes from within, that is, from the perspective of cultural insiders, while at the same time making them intelligible to outsiders as well.

In this article, the theory of cultural scripts is applied to Russian culture and, in particular, the Russian cultural scripts concerning speech, truth, and interpersonal communication (“obščenie”).

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2002) Russian – Ethnopragmatics (avant la lettre)

Вежбицкая, Анна [Wierzbicka, Anna] (2002). Русские культурные скрипты и их отражение в языке [Russian cultural scripts and their reflection in the language]. Русский язык в научном освещении, 2(4), 6-34.

More information:

Reissued as:

Вежбицкая, Анна (2005). Русские культурные скрипты и их отражение в языке. In Анна А. Зализняк, И.Б. Левонтина, А.Д. Шмелев (Eds.), ключевые идеи русской языковой картины мира [Key ideas of the Russian linguistic worldview] (pp. 467-499). Москва (Moscow): Языки славянских культур [Languages of Slavic Culture].

Chapter 11 (pp. …-…) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2011). Семантические универсалии и базисные концепты [Semantic universals and basic concepts]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки славянских культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2002) Semantics and cognition

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

(2002) Shared semantic core of all languages

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

 

 

(2002) Spanish – Address forms

Bułat Silva, Zuzanna (2002). Un intento de aplicación del metalenguaje semántico natural a las fórmulas de tratamiento españolas [An attempt at applying Natural Semantic Metalanguage to Spanish address forms]. Estudios hispánicos, 10, 61-68.

Written in Spanish.

A lot has been written on address forms from a pragmatic, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspective. This short study is an attempt at providing a semantic analysis of some of the factors that impact on the use of nominal address forms in Spanish. Semantic components, expressed in a Spanish-based NSM, are provided, but focus on what is conveyed by the address forms – cordiality, spontaneity, emotionality, irony, machismo, etc. – as opposed to what specific address forms stand for.


Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner

(2003) English (Australia) – TALL POPPY

Peeters, Bert (2003). The tall poppy syndrome: On the re-emergence in contemporary Australia of an Ancient Greek and Latin motive. Classicvm, 29(2), 22-26.

(2003) Emotions

Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Emotion and culture: Arguing with Martha Nussbaum. Ethos, 31(4), 577-600. DOI: 10.1525/eth.2003.31.4.577

Martha Nussbaum’s account of human emotions, given in her influential 2001 book Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions is, in many ways, a balanced and insightful one. Her discussion steers prudently and carefully between, on the one hand, the excesses of cultural relativism and social
constructivism, and on the other, the crude universalism of biological and cognitivist accounts of emotion. And yet I do not find Nussbaum’s overall account fully adequate, and, in particular, I do not think she accords sufficient weight to the role of language in emotional experience or its interpretation. She acknowledges that language differences probably shape emotional life in some ways, but she goes on to say that the role of language has often been “overestimated” – without noting that it has also often been greatly underestimated.

In this article, I argue that despite her desire to strike a balance between extreme positions on emotion and culture, Nussbaum’s account of human emotions errs on the side of universalism. I focus on “grief,” which is her key example of a universal human emotion, and contrast the Anglo cultural perspective (some aspects of which Nussbaum assumes to be universal) with those reflected in other languages such as Russian, French, Chinese, and the Central Australian language Pintupi.

(2003) English – Grammatical categories and constructions

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

(2003) English — Reasonable

Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). ‘Reasonable man’ and ‘reasonable doubt’: The English language, Anglo culture, and Anglo-American law. Forensic Linguistics, 10(1), 1-22.

 

Abstract:

This paper investigates, in a historical and cultural perspective, the meaning of the word reasonable, and in particular, of the phrases reasonable man and reasonable doubt, which play an important role in Anglo-American law. Drawing on studies of the British Enlightenment such as Porter (2000), it traces the modern English concept of ‘reasonableness’ back to the intellectual revolution brought about by the writings of John Locke, who (as Porter says) ‘replaced rationalism with reasonableness, in a manner which became programmatic for the Enlightenment in Britain’. The paper also argues that the meaning of the word reasonable has changed over the last two centuries and that as a result, the meaning of the phrases reasonable man and beyond reasonable doubt has also changed; but since these phrases were continually used for over two centuries and became entrenched in Anglo-American law as well as in ordinary language, and since the older meaning of reasonable is no longer known to most speakers, the change has, generally speaking, gone unnoticed. On a theoretical level, the paper argues that meaning cannot be investigated in a precise and illuminating manner without a coherent semantic framework; and that a suitable framework is provided by the ‘NSM’ semantic theory.

 

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2003) English (Australia) – Gender and sexism

Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Sexism in grammar: The semantics of gender in Australian English. Anthropological Linguistics, 44(2), 143-177.

(2003) English (Singapore)

Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Singapore English: A semantic and cultural perspective. Multilingua, 22, 327-366.

 

Abstract:

This paper examines some aspects of Singapore English, raising questions about Singaporean culture and national identity, and, more generally, about the nature of links between language and culture in a multilingual, hetero- geneous, and rapidly changing society. It argues that Singapore English is grounded in Singapore experience; in doing so, it takes up the notion of ‘interculturality’, proposed by the Singapore linguist Ho Chee Lick. Using the ‘Natural Semantic Metalanguage’, developed by the author and col- leagues, and based on empirically established universal human concepts, the paper offers a detailed semantic analysis of a number of Singaporean ‘key words’, and shows how their meaning reflects the unique Singaporean experience. The detailed semantic analysis of these ‘key words’, and of some other aspects of Singapore English, leads the author to posit some Singaporean ‘cultural scripts’, also formulated in universal human concepts.

 

Ratings:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2003) English (Singapore) – Discourse particles: LAH

Besemeres, Mary & Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Pragmatics and cognition: The meaning of the particle lah in Singapore English. Pragmatics & Cognition, 11(1), 3-38. DOI: 10.1075/pc.11.1.03bes

This paper tries to crack one of the hardest and most intriguing chestnuts in the field of cross-cultural pragmatics and to identify the meaning of the celebrated Singaporean particle lah, the hallmark of Singapore English. In pursuing this goal, the authors investigate the use of lah and seek to identify its meaning by trying to find a paraphrase in ordinary language that would be substitutable for lah in any context. In doing so, they try to enter the speakers’ minds, and as John Locke urged in his pioneering work on particles, published in  1691, “observe nicely” the speakers’ “postures of the mind in discoursing”. At the same time, they offer a general model for the investigation of discourse markers and show how the methodology based on the NSM semantic theory allows the analyst to link pragmatics, via semantics, with the study of cognition.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2003) English (Singapore) – Reduplication of Chinese names

Wong, Jock (2003). The reduplication of Chinese names in Singapore English. RASK, 19, 47-85. PDF (open access)

A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 3 (pp. 57-93) of:

Wong, Jock O. (2014). The Culture of Singapore English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139519519

In Singapore English, a range of culture-specific address forms are found that do not exist in any other culturally Anglo variety of English. These forms of address are loaded with meanings and can tell us a lot about the evolving Singapore culture and the cultural grounding of Singapore English. Such knowledge benefits a cultural outsider because it facilitates a better understanding of and integration in the Singapore English speech community.

This study looks into one such form of address used in Singapore English: the reduplication of Chinese names. It shows that this grammatical construction is meaningful and captures its meaning in the form of a reductive paraphrase using Natural Semantic Metalanguage. The use of this address form can be shown to be motivated by a Chinese cultural attitude, which speakers are now able to express in Singapore English.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2003) English (USA) – Nicknames of American presidents

Gladkova, Anna (2003). The semantics of nicknames of the American presidents. In Peter Collins, & Mengistu Amberber (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2002 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. http://www.als.asn.au/proceedings/als2002.html. PDF (open access)

This study is focused on the recorded public nicknames of the American presidents, which were collected from onomastic dictionaries, reference literature on American presidents, and the internet. The data consisted of approximately 430 nicknames for 43 presidents. It is shown that the semantic structure of nicknames can be explicated with lexical universals to make their meaning transparent and avoid a culture-biased analysis and that the semantic analysis of nicknames can give clues to cultural values and assumptions determining their coining.

The semantic structure of nicknames contains both referential and expressive components. The referential components of nicknames can be evaluative. The expressive components are complex and can include emotive components, as well as components of status and familiarity. Nicknames differ in their expressive value, and their variety depends on the forms of personal names used in nicknames. It is possible to divide the nicknames examined here into several groups according to the cultural assumptions underlying their coining.


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2003) Japanese – Epistemic modality

Asano, Yuko (2003). A semantic analysis of epistemic modality in Japanese. PhD thesis, Australian National University.


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2003) Language and thought – Variation and universals

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.

 

(2003) Malay – TER-

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.

(2003) Mental states / NSM primes

Goddard, Cliff (2003). Thinking across languages and cultures: Six dimensions of variation. Cognitive Linguistics, 14(2-3), 109-140.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2003.005

Abstract:

This article is an exercise in typological semantics. It adopts the principles of the NSM approach to survey cross-linguistic variation in ways of talking about ‘thinking’. It begins by summarizing research indicating that there is a universal semantic prime THINK that can provide a stable reference point for cross-linguistic comparison. Six different dimensions of variability are then canvassed: different patterns of lexical polysemy, different degrees and modes of lexical elaboration, different ethno-theories of the person, different ways in which think-related meanings can be encoded morphosyntactically, different cultural scripts that may encourage or discourage particular ways of thinking, and differing patterns of usage in discourse.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2003) NSM (latest perspectives)

Goddard, Cliff (2003). Natural Semantic Metalanguage: Latest perspectives. Theoretical Linguistics, 29(3), 227-236. DOI: 10.1515/thli.29.3.227

Uwe Durst has given a valuable and accurate synopsis of the NSM approach to linguistic meaning in this special issue of Theoretical Linguistics. I attempt in turn to augment and clarify certain points, under the following headings:

  1. The syntax of semantic metalanguage
  2. NSM in comparison with (other) formal systems
  3. Semantic complexity, semantic molecules, and substitutability
  4. Using indigenous NSMs in fieldwork and in grammatical description