Browsing results for WIERZBICKA ANNA
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 16, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2008). Why there are no ‘colour universals’ in language and thought. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (N.S.) 14, 407-425. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2008.00509.x
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 4 (pp. 80-101) of:
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2014). Words and meanings: Lexical semantics across domains, languages, and cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Do all people live in a world full of colours? Perceptually, yes (unless they are visually impaired), but conceptually, no: there are many languages which have no word for ‘colour’ and in which the question What colour is it? cannot be asked and presumably does not arise. Yet the powerful and still immensely influential theory of Berlin and Kay assumes otherwise. While building on the author’s earlier work on colour semantics, this article brings new evidence against the Berlin and Kay paradigm, and presents a fundamentally different approach. The new data on which the argument is based come from Australian languages. In particular, the article presents a detailed study of the visual world reflected in the Australian language Warlpiri and in Warlpiri ways of speaking, showing that while Warlpiri people have no “colour talk” (and no “colour practices”), they have a rich visual discourse of other kinds, linked with their own cultural practices. It also offers a methodology for identifying indigenous meanings without the grid of the English concept ‘colour’, and for revealing “the native’s point of view”.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) colour, (E) kunjuru-kunjuru, (E) kuruwarri-kuruwarri, (E) yukuri-yukuri, (T) English
Published on July 3, 2017. Last updated on August 16, 2021.
François, Jacques (2008). Book review of Anna Wierzbicka, English: Meaning and culture. Bulletin de la Société de linguistique de Paris, 103(2), 16-26.
Written in French.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2008). A conceptual basis for intercultural pragmatics and world-wide understanding. In Martin Pütz, & JoAnne Neff-van Aertselaer (Eds.), Developing contrastive pragmatics: Interlanguage and cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 3-46). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
In her programmatic article, Anna Wierzbicka confronts the reader with the question of whether the exclusive reliance on English as a source of conceptual tools is the best way in which intercultural pragmatics can serve the cause of world-wide understanding. Her paper argues that it is not, because English itself carries with it a great deal of cultural baggage, and so comparing communicative norms and cultural values through English leads inevitably to an Anglocentric bias. Wierzbicka offers an alternative to the use of English as a tertium comparationis by proposing her well-established NSM (Natural Semantic Metalanguage) model which as an auxiliary language (i.e. mini-language) matches the lexical and grammatical core of all languages. NSM English can be used to explain norms and values to ordinary interactants and thus to advance the cause of intercultural communication and world-wide understanding.
Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 15, 2022.
Wierzbicka, Anna. (2008). A conceptual basis for research into emotions and bilingualism. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 11 (2), 193–195. doi:10.1017/S1366728908003362
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) angry, (E) frustration
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2008). New semantic primes and new syntactic frames: “Specificational BE” and “abstract THIS/IT”. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Cross-linguistic semantics (pp. 35-57). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.102.06god
In section 1, we propose a “new” semantic prime — specificational BE — and show how it can be used to analyse some classic problems in the semantics of naming and reference. In section 2, we explore a newly recognised syntactic option of the prime THIS, here termed “abstract THIS/IT”. Both the new possibilities are involved in the semantics of specificational and focus constructions of English. These are the topic of section 3.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on February 17, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff, & Anna Wierzbicka (2008). Universal human concepts as a basis for contrastive linguistic semantics. In María de los Ángeles Gómez González, J. Lachlan Mackenzie, & Elsa M. González Álvarez (Eds.), Current trends in contrastive linguistics: Functional and cognitive perspectives (pp. 205-226). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/sfsl.60.13god
This study sets out to demonstrate that the NSM metalanguage of semantic primes provides a stable language-neutral medium for fine-grained contrastive semantic analysis, in both the lexical and grammatical domains. The lexical examples are drawn from “yearning-missing” words in English, Polish, Russian and Spanish, while the grammatical examples contrast the Spanish diminutive with the hypocoristic “diminutive” of Australian English. We show that the technique of explication (reductive paraphrase) into semantic primes makes it possible to pin down subtle meaning differences which cannot be captured using normal translation or grammatical labels. Explications for the Polish, Russian and Spanish examples are presented both in English and in the language concerned, thus establishing that the metalanguage being used is transposable across languages.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). All people eat and drink: Does this mean that ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ are universal human concepts? In John Newman (Ed.), The linguistics of eating and drinking (pp. 65-89). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). “Reciprocity”: An NSM approach to linguistic typology and social universals. Studies in language 33(1). 103-174. DOI: 10.1075/sl.33.1.05wie
This paper develops a semantic approach to the study of “reciprocity” — an area increasingly seen as central to linguistic typology. “Reciprocal” and “reflexive-reciprocal” constructions from five languages — English, Russian, Polish, French and Japanese — are analyzed in considerable detail. The different, though interrelated, meanings of these constructions are explicated, and the proposed explications are supported with linguistic evidence. The paper challenges current approaches which tend to lump formally and semantically distinct constructions under one arbitrary label such as “RECIP”, and it seeks to show how linguistic typology can be transformed by joining forces with rigorous cross-linguistic
semantics. It also challenges the Nijmegen School approach, which privileges extensionalist “video-clipping” over conceptual analysis. The analysis presented in the paper demonstrates the descriptive and explanatory power of the NSM methodology. The results achieved through semantic analysis are shown to be convergent with hypotheses about “shared intentionality” put forward by Michael Tomasello and colleagues in the context of evolutionary psychology, and to throw new light on social universals (“human sociality”).
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). Language and metalanguage: Key issues in emotion research. Emotion Review, 1(1), 3-14. DOI: 10.1177/1754073908097175
Building on the author’s earlier work, this paper argues that language is a key issue in understanding human emotions and that treating English emotion terms as valid analytical tools continues to be a roadblock in the study of emotions. Further, it shows how the methodology developed by the author and colleagues, known as NSM (Natural Semantic Metalanguage), allows us to break free of the shackles of English psychological terms and explore human emotions from a culture-independent perspective. The use of NSM makes it possible to study human emotions from a genuinely cross-linguistic and cross-cultural, as well as a psychological, perspective and thus opens up new possibilities for the scientific understanding of subjectivity and psychological experience.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) adēmonein αδημονείν, (E) ekthambeisthai εκθαμβεισθαι, (E) fear, (T) English
Published on August 2, 2018. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Besemeres, Mary, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). Emotion terms as a window on culture, social psychology and subjective experience. In S. V. Ionov et al. (Eds.), Language and emotions: Semantic and pragmatic aspects. Festschrift for Viktor Ivanovich Shakhovsky (pp. 14-32). Volgograd: Volgograd University Press.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 18, 2018. Last updated on August 18, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). The language of “bullying” and “harassment”. Quadrant, 53(12), 102-107.
While there is no shortage of various attempted definitions of bullying, they are usually lacking in clarity, precision and explanatory value. This is partly because to provide an adequate definition of bullying one needs to consider closely not only human behaviour but also the meanings of words and ways in which these meanings can be accurately defined and intelligibly explained.
What matters here is not how the word should be used, or what it should mean, but rather, what it actually means as it is normally used by “ordinary people”. It is this plain meaning manifested in “ordinary people’s” use of the word which functions as part of the shared conceptual
currency of speakers of English. To identify this meaning accurately and intelligibly we need a workable methodology. Such a methodology can be found in the so-called “NSM” (from “Natural Semantic Metalanguage”) approach. Using this approach, we can overcome the inadequacies of traditional models of definition, and we can actually explain the meaning of words, in ways which can be both cognitively accurate and socially and educationally useful.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) bully, (E) bullying, (E) harassment
Published on August 2, 2018. Last updated on September 1, 2018.
Besemeres, Mary, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). The concept of frustration: A culture-specific emotion and a cultural key word. In Agata Błachnio, & Aneta Przepiórka (Eds.), Closer to emotions: Vol. 3 (pp. 211-226). Lublin: KUL.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). What makes a good life? A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 260-272.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 13, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). Exploring English phraseology with two tools: NSM semantic methodology and Google. Journal of English Linguistics, 37(2), 101-129. DOI: 10.1177/0075424209334338
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 10 (pp. 395-406) of:
Wierzbicka, Anna (2010). Experience, evidence, and sense: The hidden cultural legacy of English. New York: Oxford University Press.
The study of phraseology, which not long ago was often dismissed as a linguistic activity of only minor interest, has now come into its own and is an increasingly popular and diversified field, with many different approaches and foci of interest. Significantly, regardless of their particular focus and goals, more and more writers adopt corpus-based approaches to phraseological phenomena. This article arises from a larger study of various phraseological networks based on the English cultural key word sense (as in, e.g., a sense of humour, a sense of direction and a sense of relief), and it explores some types of sense-based collocations with two tools: the NSM (Natural Semantic Metalanguage) semantic methodology and Google. The article argues that the use of corpora and the Web combined with the use of NSM methodology opens new perspectives for the semantic and cultural study of English phraseology.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) mission, (E) sense, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). Contrastive semantics of physical activity verbs: ‘Cutting’ and ‘chopping’ in English, Polish, and Japanese. Language Sciences, 31, 60-96. DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2007.10.002
This study explores the contrastive lexical semantics of verbs comparable to ‘cut’ and ‘chop’ in three languages (English, Polish, and Japanese), using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) technique of semantic analysis. It proposes a six-part semantic template, and argues that this template can serve as a basis for a lexical typology of complex physical activity verbs in general. At the same time, it argues that language-specific aspects of the semantics are often culturally motivated. Nine verbs are examined (English cut, chop, slice, Polish ciąć ‘‘cut’’, krajać ‘‘cut/slice’’, obcinać ‘‘cut around’’, rąbać ‘‘chop’’, Japanese kiru ‘‘cut’’, kizamu ‘‘chop’’), and NSM explications are proposed for each one based on its range of use in natural contexts, thus capturing the semantic similarities and differences in fine-grained detail.
Contrastive semantics; Lexical semantics; Physical activity verbs; NSM; Lexical typology; Semantic template; Lexicology; Polysemy; Semantics and culture
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). Case in NSM: A reanalysis of the Polish dative. In Andrej Malchukov, & Andrew Spencer (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of case (pp. 151-169). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199206476.013.0011
Abstract:
In this chapter, I show how NSM can be applied to the study of cases by revisiting my earlier (1986) study of the Polish dative. Since that earlier study, the metalanguage has been significantly expanded and revised in the light of empirical cross-linguistic investigations. As this chapter hopes to show, its current form offers a more precise and more effective tool for exploring the meaning of cases. At the same time, this chapter continues the semantic approach to cases launched, in opposition to the then prevailing ‘autonomous syntax’ approaches, in the author’s 1980 book The case for surface case.
Translations:
Into Russian:
Chapter 9 (pp. 302-328) 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
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 22, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). The theory of the mental lexicon. In Sebastian Kempgen, Peter Kosta, Tilman Berger, & Karl Gutschmidt (Eds.), Die slavischen Sprachen/The Slavic languages: Eine internationales Handbuch zu ihrer Struktur, ihrer Geschichte und ihrer Erforsching/An international handbook of their structure, their history and their investigation: Volume 1 (pp. 848-863). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214475.1.11.848
The main thesis of this article is that (contrary to what, for example, Chomsky claims) a great deal is by now known about the mental lexicon. First of all, there is currently a great deal of evidence that at the heart of this lexicon lies a set of sixty or so universal semantic primes, each with its own set of combinatory characteristics. Second, cross-linguistic evidence suggests that large sections of the mental lexicon have a hierarchical structure, with several levels of semantic molecules operating and thus allowing for great conceptual complexity to be combined with relatively simple semantic structures. Third, it is now clear that many sections of the mental lexicon are organized according to a certain pattern, or template, shared by a large number of words. Fourth, a large body of research has shown that the mental lexicon of the speakers of any given language includes many words whose meanings are unique to that particular language, and that such words – a language’s cultural key words – help bind the speakers of a language into a cohesive cultural community.
The chapter focuses in particular on the relatively new areas of semantic molecules and semantic templates. The illustrative material analysed is drawn from Polish and relates to emotions (including but not limited to emotions reminiscent of envy and compassion in English), speech acts (reminiscent of to order and to ask (someone about something) in English), names of animals (mice), and motion verbs.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) ask (someone to do something), (E) denerwować się, (E) doszed, (E) kazać, (E) martwić się, (E) mysz, (E) poszed, (E) prosić, (E) przeszed, (E) przyszed, (E) pytać, (E) współczuć, (E) wszed, (E) wyszed, (E) zazdrościć, (T) Polish
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2009). Pragmatics and cultural values: The hot centre of Russian discourse. In B. Fraser & K. Turner (Eds.), Language in life, and a life in language: Jacob Mey – A festschrift (pp. 423-434). Bingley: Emerald.
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 3, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2010). Cultural scripts. In Louise Cummings (Ed.), The pragmatics encyclopedia (pp. 92-95). London: Routledge.
The theory of cultural scripts is an offshoot of NSM semantics. The term cultural script, first introduced in 1991, stands for a cultural norm articulated in NSM. Cultural scripts exist at different levels of generality and may relate to different aspects of thinking, speaking and behaviour. High-level scripts, sometimes called master scripts, are often closely associated with core cultural values. They articulate broad cultural themes that are typically played out in detail by way of whole families of related speech practices, which themselves can be captured by means of more specific scripts. The accessibility and transparency of cultural scripts written in semantic primes gives them a huge advantage over technical modes of description.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) criticism of others, (S) directives, (S) expressiveness, (S) personal autonomy, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 3, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2010). Cultural scripts and intercultural communication. In Anna Trosborg (Ed.), Pragmatics across languages and cultures (pp. 43-78). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110214444.1.43
Insights from cross-cultural literature written in English by authors of non-Anglo backgrounds throw a great deal of light on the challenges of cross-cultural lives and cross-cultural encounters. NSM techniques allow the author to translate such experiential evidence into cultural scripts written in a controlled mini-language based on simple and cross-translatable words. The scripts can either portray how cultural insiders think, or they can specifically target outsiders and newcomers to a culture. The paper provides a large range of examples involving more than a dozen different languages in different social situations including, for example, Russian and English scripts for “making a request”, scripts against “criticizing the person you are with”, scripts for “pleasant interaction”, scripts against “blurting out what one thinks”, to mention just a few.
Although cultural scripts may be seen by some as stereotypes, their use, provided it is consistent with the “objective evidence” of lexical facts and the “subjective evidence” from bicultural writers, can lead to increased cross-cultural understanding and serve as a basis for intercultural training. The methodology of cultural scripts formulated in simple and universal human concepts can help explain shared assumptions and values embedded in ways of speaking in different languages and cultures and can at the same time be practically useful in intercultural education.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (S) apologies, (S) blurting out what one thinks, (S) criticism of others, (S) cushioning the blow, (S) I am someone above this someone, (S) personal remarks, (S) pleasant interaction, (S) requests, (S) self-expression, (S) self-justification, (S) softening the blow, (S) straight talk, (S) think first, (S) this someone is someone above me, (S) this someone is someone like me, (T) English
