Browsing results for Main Authors
Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 15, 2022.
Ye, Zhengdao. (2021). The semantics of migrant, immigrant and refugee: a cross-linguistic perspective. In Aleksandrova, Angelina and Meyer, Jean-Paul (Eds.) Nommer l’humain: descriptions, catégorisations, enjeux, 97–122. Paris: L’Harmattan.
This paper investigates and presents the meanings of words denoting people who change, either voluntarily or involuntarily, places where they live. More specifically, it contrasts the meanings of ‘migrant’, ‘immigrant’, and ‘illegal immigrant’ in three varieties of English (e.g. Australian, British and American), and provides a cross-linguistic perspective by discussing the major differences in meaning between yímin (’emigrant/immigrant’) and nánmin (‘refugee’) in Chimpse and their counterparts in English. The analytical and comparative framework used in this paper for contrastive lexico-conceptual analysis is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) (e.g. Wierzbicka, 1972, 1996; Goddard & Wierzbicka, 2014). The paper first discusses the larger context in which this methodology is situated (Sec. 2), as well as its basic principles (Sec. 3), before introducing NSM work on nouns for people and some of the key insights on which the present study is built (Sec. 4). Sec. 5 presents the analysis of the terms in question, and § 6 summarizes the implications arising from this study.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) illegal immigrant, (E) immigrant, (E) migrant, (E) migrate, (E) nánmin, (E) yímin
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Wong, Jock and Or, Marshal. (2021). “Is beauty only skin deep?”: The conceptualization of ‘beauty’ in Mandarin Chinese. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 35–61
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00034.won
Abstract:
From a semantic and cultural perspective, one could ask a number of questions regarding the English word ‘beauty’ and the adjectival form ‘beautiful’ when they are used to refer to visual aspects of people. Given that scholars and professionals in the beauty industry frequently use the words to describe people from various cultures, should we assume that each of them embodies a semantic and cultural universal? Given that plastic surgeons and beauticians improve the physical appearance of people, especially women, why do they not use the word ‘pretty’ to promote their services instead? After all, the phrase ‘pretty woman’ is also the title of a popular song first recorded by Roy Orbison in 1964 and later the name of a hugely successful 1990 movie. Why are beauty salons so called? Why are they not called prettiness salons instead? This paper attempts to address such questions by studying the meanings of two Mandarin Chinese words: mĕi/měilì 美/美 丽 (roughly, ‘beautiful’) and piàoliàng 漂亮 (roughly, ‘pretty’). The words are polysemous and this paper focuses on the meanings that are relevant to the pur- poses of describing women. It tries to explain the conceptual difference between a woman who is mĕi/měilì and one who is piàoliàng. Hopefully, the findings will shed light on some of the semantic distinctions that are impor- tant to Mandarin Chinese speakers and thus the questions raised above.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) mĕi 美, (E) piàoliàng 漂亮
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Levisen, Carsten. (2021). Pæn, flot, dejlig, and lækker : A lexical anthropology of Danish folk aesthetics. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 14–34
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00033.lev
Abstract:
This paper examines the Danish language of aesthetics from the perspective of four untranslatable adjectives: pæn, flot, dejlig, and lækker. These words are frequent and salient in everyday discourses, and as such they shed light on Danish “folk” conceptions. From the perspective of Lexical Anthropology and NSM Semantics, each of the words are explored and explicated in order to shed light on the ways in which Danish discourse organize positive aesthetic experiences. Sensitive to polysemy, and the variety of lexicogrammatical frames in which the words occur, the paper provides a high-resolution analyses of the “something ADJ frame” which enables discourses of design, food, and art. Based on lexical semantic evidence, the paper locates two themes in Danish discourse: “aesthetic normality” and “ordinary hedonism” which seem to act as cognitive axes around which discourses revolve. The paper argues that words hold the key to understanding the diversity of aesthetic cultures, and that untranslatables in particular, allow for a deep emic understanding of how local configurations of seeing, feeling, touching, and thinking are constituted.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) dejlig, (E) flot, (E) lækker, (E) pæn, (T) Danish, (T) English
Published on August 21, 2023. Last updated on November 17, 2023.
Levisen, Carsten. (2021). The syntax of something: Evaluative affordances of noget in Danish construction grammar. Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 44(1), 3-24.
DOI: 10.1017/S033258652000013X
Abstract
This paper explores ‘the evaluative noget construction’ in Danish. The construction consists of noget ‘something’ juxtaposed by a noun in an evaluative frame such as e.g. Det er noget pjat, ‘It’s nonsense’. With a starting point in cross-linguistic studies on SOMETHING, the paper moves on to explore core members of this evaluative class in Danish, providing a detailed semantic analysis of the construction’s core configurations. The affordance of noget ‘something’ to mean ‘something bad’ is a key to understanding the construction, and from this general premise the class of evaluatives take off in multiple negative direc- tions, providing a snapshot of the Danish linguaculture of evaluation. The paper argues for a Cultural Construction Grammar that can bring together the lexicogrammatical integrationism of construction grammar approaches with the linguacultural holism of the research in ethnosyntax. The goal is to provide high-definition analysis of complex, language-specific constructions in a simple, globally translatable metalanguage.
Tags: (E) noget bras, (E) noget juks, (E) noget lort, (E) noget pjat, (E) noget rod, (E) noget sjusk, (E) noget skidt, (E) noget svineri, (T) Danish, (T) English
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Gladkova, Anna, & Romero-Trillo, Jesús. (2021). Is ugliness in the mind of the beholder? The conceptualization of ‘ugly’ in English. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(1): 106–127
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00037.gla
Abstract:
The paper explores the meaning and use of ugly in English. The study is based on corpus data from Cobuild Wordbanks Online and investigates the polysemy and the spheres of application of the concept. Through corpus analysis methodology, we investigate the most common collocations and the pragmatic and contextual uses of the term. Based on this analysis, our study proposes semantic explications of ugly in universal human concepts within the theoretical framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). We also analyze the most common collocations with the word ugly and clas- sify them into several meaning-based categories. A comparison between beautiful and ugly reveals that they are not identical in their distribution, which suggests different cognitive salience of the concepts. We also note the special role of ‘people’ and ‘nature’ in conceptualization and use of beautiful and that of ‘human actions’ in ugly.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ugly, (T) English
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Bromhead, Helen. (2021). Disaster linguistics, climate change semantics and public discourse studies: a semantically-enhanced discourse study of 2011 Queensland Floods. Language Sciences 85
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2021.101381
Abstract:
Natural disasters, such as what are known in English as ‘floods’ and ‘wildfires’, are increasingly a topic of concern due to the climate emergency, and their vocabulary and public discourses hold much to be explored through linguistics. This article inaugurates the examination of public discourse about extreme weather events through semantically- enhanced discourse studies, an approach which is based on Natural Semantic Meta- language (NSM) and developed herein. Taking the example of floods in the particular geographic, cultural and historical environment of the Australian state of Queensland in 2011, this transtextual study draws on a public inquiry into the event and English as spoken in Australia, more broadly, along with media reports, and literature from hu- manities and social sciences. Five case studies of vocabulary and discourse patterns are presented to cast cultural and semantic spotlights on the public discourses. It is demon- strated that this approach can provide high resolution analysis of discourse and bring out cultural and historical factors at play in extreme weather language thereby contributing to disaster linguistics, climate change semantics and public discourse studies.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) flood, (E) they just got in and..., (S) flood warnings, (S) the Inquiry
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
Tags: (E) economy
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Peeters, Bert (2021). From Cultural to Pedagogical Scripts: Speaking Out in English, French, and Russian. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 171-193
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_7
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) epistemic reserve and openness, (S) expresividad, (S) expressing opinions (English), (S) expressing opinions (French), (S) expressing opinions (Russian), (S) iskrennost' искренность, (S) taking a stand, (S) vyrazitel’nost’
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.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ngan'gu, (E) ngan'gu-ngintha, (E) ngan'gu-nitha, (E) nyaanki, (E) nyarri, (E) we, (E) we two
Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 17, 2022.
Sadow, Lauren, and Peeters, Bert. (2021). “J’ai mal à la tête” and analogous phrases in Romance languages and in English [« J’ai mal à la tête et expressions analogues dans les langues romanes et en anglais »], Cahiers de lexicologie, n° 119, 2021 – 2, Lexique et corps humain, p. 207-233
DOI : 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-12812-0.p.0207
Written in English
Résumé
L’existence de constructions syntaxiques différentes pour des phrases ayant le un sens similaire n’est pas le fruit du hasard. Nous utiliserons la métalangue sémantique naturelle pour expliquer les différentes constructions des “expressions de céphalées” courantes en français, italien, espagnol, roumain et anglais. Les explications permettront de mieux comprendre comment les locuteurs conceptualisent leurs maux de tête au quotidien, et comment leur choix de syntaxe modifie le sens de l’expression.
Abstract
The existence of different syntactic configurations for phrases with similar meanings is not by chance. In this paper, we will use the natural semantic metalanguage to offer explications for the different syntactic constructions of common “headache phrases” in French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, English. The explications will allow us to better understand how the speakers of each language conceptualize their day-to-day headaches, and how their choice of syntax changes the expression’s meaning.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ache, (E) Am dureri de cap, (E) Ça fait mal, (E) Ho mal di testa, (E) I have a headache, (E) it hurts, (E) J’ai mal à la tête, (E) La tête me fait mal, (E) Mă doare capul, (E) me duele, (E) Me duele la cabeza, (E) Mi fa male la testa, (E) Tengo dolor de cabeza
Published on January 10, 2022. Last updated on January 10, 2022.
Yee, Timothy Bing Lun & Wong, Jock. (2021). Japanese first-person singular pronouns revisited: A semantic and cultural interpretation. Journal of Pragmatics, 181(2021), pp 139-161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.05.025
Abstract:
Japanese pronouns have been the subject of scrutiny in many studies. The contexts of their use have thus often been discussed. However, although we know from literature that some pronouns are more ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’, or more formal or informal than others, it does not appear that we have reached a deep understanding of their inherent meanings. For example, we do not fully understand, from an insider perspective, why some Japanese first-person singular pronouns are said to be more masculine or feminine than others. We do not know why, for example, ore is said to be strongly masculine whereas atashi is seen as strongly feminine. Above all, we do not know which one of these pronouns is the Japanese exponent of the semantic prime I, i.e., the one that is indefinable. The present study aims to address these research gaps. However, due the constraints of space, it only analyzes the meanings of the six most common first-person singular pronouns: ore, watashi, jibun, boku, atashi, and uchi. It further proposes that the Japanese exponent of the semantic prime I is jibun. The study uses Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) to articulate meaning in terms that are maximally clear and minimally ethnocentric.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) atashi [私, (E) boku [僕], (E) ore [俺], (E) uchi [内 ウチ], (E) watakushi, (E) watashi [私], (S) attitudes associated with men, (S) how boys are expected to think, (S) how many girls think in Japanese society, (S) how people expect women to behave, (S) speak in a formal situation that can convey wakimae, あたし]
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Wierzbicka, Anna. (2021). Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 319-345
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_12
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Sadow, Lauren (2021). Standard Translatable English: A Minimal English for Teaching and Learning Invisible Culture in Language Classrooms. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 139-169
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_6
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) jocular abuse, (S) softening disagreement with partial agreement
Published on January 10, 2022. Last updated on January 10, 2022.
Wilson, Bart J. and Farese, Gian Marco (2020). What Did Adam Smith Mean? The Semantics of the Opening Key Principles in the ‘Wealth of Nations’. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3616328 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3616328
Abstract:
We present a semantic and textual analysis of the first two chapters of the Wealth of Nations to elucidate the meaning of several of Adam Smith’s key ideas, including “the necessaries and conveniences of life,” “power of exchanging,” and “the division of labour.” Using the methodology of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, we produce semantic explications of some of Adam Smith’s fundamental principles of economics phrased in simple and cross‐translatable words. The extracts from the original text function as textual evidence and conceptual reference for the explications we present. We demonstrate that: (i) by reducing the principles as conceived by Smith to their core meanings, it is possible to resolve some interpretive problems for general readers of economics, and (ii) by producing explications that are clear, cross‐translatable, and free from terminological ethnocentrism, these principles become accessible and maximally intelligible to twenty‐first century readers who are non‐experts in economics and non‐native speakers of English, too. Ultimately, our project re‐humanizes the study of economics by drilling down to the core of what Adam Smith the moral philosopher meant in his most famous book which founded a discipline.
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Hill, Deborah (2021). Balancing the Local with the Universal: Minimal English and Agricultural Training in the Pacific. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 29-51
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_2
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) Family Farm Team
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Leskelä, Leealaura, & Vanhatalo, Ulla (2021). The Hunt for the Simplest Possible Vocabulary: Minimal Finnish Meets Easy Finnish. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 53-82
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_3
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) syrjintä, (T) Finnish, (T) semantic molecules (Finnish)
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Goddard, Cliff. (2021). In Praise of Minimal Languages. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 1-26.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_1
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (T) English, (T) semantic molecules, (T) Supplementary words
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
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
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Bullock, David (2021). Using Minimal English (Minimal Spanish, Etc.) for Non-circular Learners’ Dictionaries. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 111-137
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_5
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
