Browsing results for WIERZBICKA ANNA

(1998) English – Causative constructions

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). The semantics of English causative constructions in a universal-typological perspective. In Michael Tomasello (Ed.), The new psychology of language: Cognitive and functional approaches to language structure: Vol. 1 (pp. 113-153). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Reissued as:

Wierzbicka, Anna (2014). The semantics of English causative constructions in a universal-typological perspective. In Michael Tomasello (Ed.), The new psychology of language: Cognitive and functional approaches to language structure: Vol. 1 (pp. 105-142). London: Psychology Press.

Translated into Russian as:

Вежбицкая, А. [Wierzbicka, Anna] (1999). Семантика английских каузативных конструкций в универсально-типологической перспективе. In Вежбицкая, А. [Wierzbicka, Anna], Семантические универсалии и описание языков, под ред. Татьяна В. Булыгиной [Semantic universals and the description of languages, ed. Tatyana V. Bulygina] (pp. 171-223). Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

(Modified) excerpt:

This chapter seeks to elucidate the differences in meaning between different causative verbs like to cause, to force, to make, to get, to let, and so on and to analyse the complex interplay between different relevant factors (the category to which the causer belongs, the category to which the causee belongs, the category to which the predicate of the complement clause belongs, the causative verb chosen in a given sentence, and so on). To do so successfully, we do not need any formidable technical formalisms. Nor do we need to endlessly concern ourselves with the perennially contested issue of how (or even if) syntax can be combined with semantics. Rather, what we need is an analytical framework in which syntax and lexical semantics are integrated from the very beginning.

The overall picture produced by an analysis that pays attention to all the relevant factors is, admittedly, complex and intricate much more so than one that operates only with tree diagrams and other similar formalisms; but it is, I believe, the only kind of analysis that can achieve descriptive adequacy and explanatory power. It is language itself that is immensely complex. At the same time, if we allow that all languages may have a relatively simple irreducible core, we can use this irreducible core of all languages as a basis for an understanding of the immensely complex and diverse systems that all human languages are.

Syntactic typology that deliberately closes its eyes to the semantic dimensions of formal diversity of languages is, ultimately, sterile and unilluminating. Opening typology to semantics may involve difficulties, but rather than avoiding them, it is surely more fruitful to sharpen our analytical tools and to develop safeguards of various kinds. Above all, we need a semantic metalanguage for a cross-cultural comparison of meanings, whether they are encoded in the lexicon or in grammar. As, I hope, this chapter illustrates, the “Natural Semantic Metalanguage” based on empirically established universal concepts can meet this need.

(1998) German – Cultural scripts

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). German ‘cultural scripts’: Public signs as a key to social attitudes and cultural values. Discourse & Society, 9(2), 241-282.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926598009002006

Abstract:

This paper is based on the following set of assumptions:

  1. ways of speaking characteristic of a given speech community constitute a manifestation of a tacit system of ‘cultural rules’ or ‘cultural scripts’;
  2. to understand a society’s ways of speaking, we have to identify and articulate its implicit cultural scripts;
  3. to be able to do this without ethnocentric bias we need a universal, language-independent perspective; and
  4. this can be attained if the ‘rules’ in question are stated in terms of lexical universals, that is, universal human concepts lexicalized in all languages of the world.

This paper applies the cultural script approach to German and compares German norms with Anglo norms (that is, norms prevailing in English-speaking societies). The author notes that, in recent decades, great changes have undoubtedly occurred in German ways of speaking and, it can be presumed, in underlying cultural values. For example, the dramatic spread of the use of the “familiar” form of address (du, as opposed to Sie), and the decline in the use of titles (e.g., Herr Müller instead of Prof. Müller) point to significant changes in interpersonal relations, in the direction of more egalitarian informality. At the same time, evidence of contemporary public signs, which are discussed here, suggests that some traditional German values, like the value of social discipline and of Ordnung (order) based on legitimate authority, are far from obsolete. It is shown that, in studying such values, we can rely on concepts more precise and more illuminating than ‘authoritarianism’ or ‘authoritarian personality’, often used in the past in analyses of German culture and society, and that the cultural scripts approach offers a rigorous and efficient tool for studying change and variation, as well as continuity, in social attitudes and cultural values.

Above all, rather than perpetuating stereotypes based on prejudice and lack of understanding, cultural scripts help outsiders grasp the ‘cultural logic’ underlying unfamiliar ways of speaking that may otherwise look like a strange collection of idiosyncracies — or worse.

Translations:

Into Russian:

Chapter 15 (pp. 682-729) of Вежбицкая, Анна (1999), Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

Chapter 4 (pp. 159-217) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2001), Сопоставление культур через посредство лексики и прагматики [Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки Славянской Культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

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(1998) German – Emotions

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on October 19, 2019.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). Angst. Culture & Psychology, 4(2), 161-188.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X9800400202

Abstract:

The author examines the meaning, and the cultural history, of the German word Angst (roughly a cross between ‘anxiety’ and ‘fear’ but with a touch of mystery or existential insecurity), which is much more common, and culturally more salient, than the word Furcht (roughly ‘fear’). She shows that from a German point of view ‘Angst’ seems a far more ‘basic’ emotion than ‘fear’, and she investigates the possible roots of the concept of ‘Angst’ in Luther’s language, inner struggles and theology. The author seeks to demonstrate that by studying the semantic system of a language in a rigorous way and within a coherent methodological framework, one can both reveal and document the cultural underpinnings of emotions – even the most elusive and unfathomable ones such as Angst.

Translations:

Into Russian:

Chapter 12 (pp. 547-610) of Вежбицкая, Анна (1999), Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

Chapter 2 (pp. 44-122) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2001), Сопоставление культур через посредство лексики и прагматики [Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки Славянской Культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

More information:

A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 3 (pp. 123-167) of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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(1998) Illocutionary forces

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). *The semantics of illocutionary forces. In Asa Kasher (Ed.), Pragmatics: Critical concepts (pp. 114-169). London: Routledge.

(1998) Language, culture, meaning

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). Language, culture and meaning: Cross-cultural semantics. In René Dirven, & Marjolijn Verspoor (Eds.), Cognitive exploration of language and linguistics (pp. 137-159). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

2nd ed.:
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2004). Language, culture and meaning: Cross-cultural semantics. In René Dirven, & Marjolijn Verspoor (Eds.), Cognitive exploration of language and linguistics. Second revised edition (pp. 127-148). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

This chapter looks into cross-linguistic semantic differences in a systematic way. We present a method for pinpointing semantic distinctions and for exploring their cultural relevance. A key question is whether differences in linguistic conceptualization play a central role in language and thought or whether they are rather marginal. Both positions have been advocated. The first is known as linguistic relativity, in its extreme form as linguistic determinism. The second is known as universalism and holds that all people all over the world basically think in the same way. This chapter proposes a compromise between the extremes: Most linguistic concepts are indeed language-specific, but there is also a small number of universal linguistic concepts which occur in all languages. These universal concepts can be used as a “neutral” basis for paraphrasing the huge variety of language-specific and culture-specific concepts in the languages of the world. This is illustrated firstly for lexical concepts, then for grammatical concepts, and finally for the cultural norms of behaviour which underlie people’s behaviour in different cultures.

(1998) NSM primes (THINK)

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). THINK – A universal human concept and a conceptual primitive. In Jacek Juliusz Jadacki, & Witold Strawiński (Eds.), In the world of signs: Essays in honour of professor Jerzy Pelc (pp. 297-308). Amsterdam: Rodopi.

(1998) NSM primes and linguistic typology

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). Anchoring linguistic typology in universal semantic primes. Linguistic Typology, 2(2), 141-194. DOI: 10.1515/lity.1998.2.2.141

In essence, “grammar is one and the same in all languages”, but to establish what this universal grammar really looks like we have to investigate and compare many diverse languages, and for this we need a powerful and universally applicable metalanguage based on empirically established lexico-grammatical universals. The rough and incomplete outline of universal grammar sketched in this paper constitutes both a summary of the results arrived at by theoretical and empirical work over more than three decades (in the so-called “NSM” framework) and a program for further investigations. The author tries to show that it is possible to base investigations of universal grammar and typology on a truly universal, non-technical, non-arbitrary and intuitively intelligible tertium comparationis, and thus give it a secure and reliable foundation.


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(1998) Russian – Emotions

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). “Sadness” and “anger” in Russian: The non-universality of the so-called “basic human emotions”. In Angeliki Athanasiadou, & Elzbieta Tabakowska (Eds.), Speaking of emotions: Conceptualisation and expression (pp. 3-28). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110806007.3

Abstract:

The English words sad and angry (or sadness and anger) do not have exact equivalents in Russian, just as the Russian words грусть grust’, печаль pečal’, and сердиться serdit’sja do not have exact equivalents in English. How, then, are we to understand claims that ‘sadness’ or ‘anger’ are universal human emotions?

Emotions cannot be identified without words, and words always belong to particular cultures and carry with them a culture-specific perspective. The only words that are, in a sense, culture-independent are lexical universals, realized in English as good and bad, want, know, feel, think, and say, and so on. Any innate and universal cognitive scenarios that play a special role in human emotional lives all over the world would have to be identified via such lexical universals, not via culture-specific words such as sadness or anger. It may be true that ‘sadness’ and ‘anger’ are universally found in all cultures; but they are found there by native speakers of English. Observers looking at these cultures from a different cultural perspective will probably find something else.

Translations:

Into Russian:

Chapter 10 (pp. 503-525) of Вежбицкая, Анна (1999), Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки Русской Культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

Chapter 1 (pp. 15-43) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2001), Сопоставление культур через посредство лексики и прагматики [Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки Славянской Культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

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(1998) Russian – Emotions

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 3, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). Russian emotional expression. Ethos, 26(4), 456-483. DOI: 10.1525/eth.1998.26.4.456

Translated into Russian as:

Вежбицкая, А. [Wierzbicka, Anna] (1999). Выражение эмоций в русском языке: заметки по поводу «Русско-английского словаря коллокаций, относящихся к человеческому телу». In Вежбицкая, А. [Wierzbicka, Anna], Семантические универсалии и описание языков, под ред. Татьяна В. Булыгиной [Semantic universals and the description of languages, ed. Tatyana V. Bulygina] (pp. 526-546). Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

This article examines Russian “emotional ideology” as reflected in the Russian language, and especially in the Russian collocational system. Colloquial collocations involving the human body, seen as an organ of emotional expression, are the focusfor comparingfolk models of the body and emotion in Russian and Anglo cultures. A theory of “cultural scripts” forms the basis of generalizations from the linguistic evidence.

(1999) Emotions across languages and cultures [BOOK]

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Abstract:

This ground-breaking book brings psychological, anthropological and linguistic insights to bear on our understanding of the way emotions are expressed and experienced in different cultures, languages and culturally shaped social relations. The expression of emotion in the face, body and modes of speech are all explored. The author shows how the bodily expression of emotion varies across cultures and challenges traditional approaches to the study of facial expressions. As well as offering a new perspective on human emotions based on the analysis of language and ways of talking about emotion, this fascinating and controversial book attempts to identify universals of human emotion by analysing empirical evidence from different languages and cultures.

Table of contents:

  1. Introduction: feelings, languages, and cultures
  2. Defining emotion concepts: discovering ‘‘cognitive scenarios’’
  3. A case study of emotion in culture: German Angst
  4. Reading human faces
  5. Russian emotional expression
  6. Comparing emotional norms across languages and cultures: Polish vs. Anglo-American
  7. Emotional universals

More information:

Chapter 3 builds on: Angst (1998)

Chapter 4 builds on: Reading human faces: Emotion components and universal semantics (1993)

Chapter 5 builds on: Russian emotional expression (1998)

Various parts of other chapters build on: Emotion, language, and ‘‘cultural scripts’’ (1994)

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(1999) Language, mind, culture [BOOK]

Published on August 2, 2018. Last updated on November 9, 2020.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Abstract:

This book is an anthology of papers and chapters by Anna Wierzbicka, originally published in English and appearing here in a Polish translation.

Table of contents:

I. Językowa kategoryzacja świata [Language categorization of the world]

1. Prototypy i warianty [Prototypes and variants]
2. Prototypy w semantyce i pragmatyce: Eksplikowanie znaczeń wyrażających postawy uczuciowe [Prototypes in semantics and pragmatics: Explication of meanings expressing emotional attitudes]
3. Owoce i warzywa: Semantyka kategoryzacji ludzkiej [Fruit and vegetables: The semantics of human categorization]
4. Mówienie o emocjach: Semantyka, kultura i poznanie [Talking about emotions: Semantics, culture, and cognition]
5. Emocje: Język i “skrypty kulturowe” [Emotions: Language and “cultural scripts”]

II. Kultura a pragmatyka [Culture and pragmatics]

6. Różne kultury, różne języki, różne akty mowy [Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts]
7. Akty i gatunki mowy w różnych językach i kulturach [Speech acts and speech genres in different languages and cultures]
8. Włoska reduplikacja: Pragmatyka międzykulturowa i semantyka illokucyjna [Italian reduplication: Cross-cultural pragmatics and illocutionary semantics]

III. Kultura a gramatyka [Culture and grammar]

9. Przypadki gramatyczne a natura człowieka [Grammatical cases and the nature of man]
10. Etnoskładnia i filozofia gramatyki [Ethno-syntax and the philosophy of grammar]

IV. Kultura a słownictwo [Culture and vocabulary]

11. Znaczenie nazw kolorów i uniwersalia widzenia [The meaning of color terms and universal vision]
12. Słownik kluczem do historii i kultury: “Ojczyzna” w językach niemieckim, polskim i rosyjskim
[Lexicon as a key to history, culture, and society: “Homeland” and “fatherland” in German, Polish and Russian]
13. “Wolność” – “Libertas” – “Freedom” – “Svoboda”: Uniwersalne ideały czy specyficzne dla danej kultury jednostki leksykalne? [Wolność – Libertas – Freedom – Svoboda: Universal ideals or culture-specific lexical units?]
14. “Duša” – “Soul” i “Mind”: Dowody językowe na rzecz etnopsychologii i historii kultury [Duša – soul and mind: Linguistic evidence for ethnopsychology and cultural history]

More information:

Chapter 1 is a translation of: ?

Chapter 2 is a translation of: Prototypes in semantics and pragmatics: Explicating attitudinal meanings in terms of prototypes (1989)

Chapter 3 is a translation of: Apples are not a “kind of fruit”: The semantics of human categorization (1984)

Chapter 4 is a translation of: Talking about emotions: Semantics, culture, and cognition (1992)

Chapter 5 is a translation of: Emotion, language, and cultural scripts (1994)

Chapter 6 is a translation of: Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts: Polish vs. English (1985)

Chapter 7 is a translation of: ?

Chapter 8 is a translation of: Italian reduplication: Cross-cultural pragmatics and illocutionary semantics (1986)

Chapter 9 is a translation of: ?

Chapter 10 is a translation of: Ethno-syntax and the philosophy of grammar (1979)

Chapter 11 is a translation of: The meaning of color terms: Semantics, culture, and cognition (1990)

Chapter 12 is a translation of: Lexicon as a key to history, culture, and society: “Homeland” and “fatherland” in German, Polish and Russian (1995) – See also: Understanding cultures through their key words (1997), chapter 4

Chapter 13 is a translation of: Understanding cultures through their key words (1997), chapter 3

Chapter 14 is a translation of: Soul and mind: Linguistic evidence for ethnopsychology and cultural history (1989)

See the original chapters for abstracts and links to explications and cultural scripts.

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(1999) Linguistic typology

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). *A semantic basis for linguistic typology. In Yakov G. Testelets, & Ekaterina V. Rakhilina (Eds.), Festschrift for A. A. Kibrik (pp. 26-35). Moscow: Jazyki Russkoj Kul’tury.

(1999) Semantic universals and the description of languages [BOOK]

Published on August 17, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.

Вежбицкая, Анна [Wierzbicka, Anna] (1999). Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

Abstract:

This book is an anthology of papers and chapters by Anna Wierzbicka, originally published in English and appearing here in a Russian translation.

Table of contents:

Из книги «Семантика: примитивы и универсалии» [From Semantics: Primes and universals]

1. Введение [Introduction]
2. Семантическая основа грамматического описания и типология: переходность и возвратность [A semantic basis for grammatical description and typology: Transitivity and reflexives]

Семантика грамматики [The semantics of grammar]

3. Что значит имя существительное? (или: Чем существительные отличаются по значению от прилагательных?) [What’s in a noun? (Or: How do nouns differ in meaning from adjectives?]
4. Лексические прототипы как универсальное основание межъязыковой идентификации «частей речи» [Lexical prototypes as a universal basis for cross-linguistic identification of “parts of speech”]
5. Семантика английских каузативных конструкций в универсально-типологической перспективе [The semantics of English causative constructions in a universal-typological perspective]
6. Редупликация в итальянском языке: кросс-культурная прагматика и иллокутивная семантика [Italian reduplication: Cross-cultural pragmatics and illocutionary semantics]

Из книги «Понимание культур через посредство ключевых слов» [From Understanding cultures through their key words]

7. Введение [Introduction]
8. Словарный состав как ключ к этносоциологии и психологии культуры: модели «дружбы» в разных культурах [Lexicon as a key to ethno-sociology and cultural psychology: Patterns of “friendship” across cultures]
9. Словарный состав как ключ к этнофилософии, истории и политике: «Свобода» в латинском, английском, русском и польском языках [Lexicon as a key to ethno-philosophy, history, and politics: “Freedom” in Latin, English, Russian, and Polish]

Лексическая семантика в культурно-сопоставительном аспекте [Lexical semantics in a cultural and comparative perspective]

10. «Грусть» и «гнев» в русском языке: неуниверсальность так называемых «базовых человеческих эмоций» [“Sadness” and “anger” in Russian: The non-universality of the so-called “basic human emotions”]
11. Выражение эмоций в русском языке: заметки по поводу «Русско-английского словаря коллокаций, относящихся к человеческому телу» [Russian emotional expression (Notes on the Russian-English collocational dictionary of the human body)]
12. Angst
13. Семантика междометия [The semantics of interjection]

Лексика и прагматика в культурно-сопоставительном аспекте [Vocabulary and pragmatics in a cultural and comparative perspective)

14. Японские культурные сценарии: психология и «грамматика» культуры [Japanese cultural scripts: Cultural psychology and “cultural grammar”]
15. Немецкие «культурные сценарии»: Oбщественные знаки как ключ к пониманию общественных отношений и культурных ценностей [German ‘cultural scripts’: public signs as a key to social attitudes and cultural values]
16. Значение Иисусовых притч: Cемантический подход к Евангелиям [The meaning of Jesus’ parables: A semantic approach to the Gospels]

More information:

Chapter 1 is a translation of: Semantics: Primes and universals (1996), chapter 1

Chapter 2 is a translation of: Semantics: Primes and universals (1996), chapter 14

Chapter 3 is a translation of: What’s in a noun? (Or: How do nouns differ in meaning from adjectives?) (1986) – See also: The semantics of grammar (1988), chapter 9

Chapter 4 is a translation of: Lexical prototypes as a universal basis for cross-linguistic identification of “parts of speech” (2000)

Chapter 5 is a translation of: The semantics of English causative constructions in a universal-typological perspective (1998)

Chapter 6 is a translation of: Italian reduplication: Cross-cultural pragmatics and illocutionary semantics (1986) – See also: Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction (1991), chapter 7

Chapter 7 is a translation of: Understanding cultures through their key words (1997), chapter 1

Chapter 8 is a translation of: Understanding cultures through their key words (1997), chapter 2

Chapter 9 is a translation of: Understanding cultures through their key words (1997), chapter 3

Chapter 10 is a translation of: “Sadness” and “anger” in Russian: The non-universality of the so-called “basic human emotions” (1998)

Chapter 11 is a translation of: Russian emotional expression (1998)

Chapter 12 is a translation of: Angst (1998)

Chapter 13 is a translation of: The semantics of interjection (1992)

Chapter 14 is a translation of: Japanese cultural scripts: Cultural psychology and “cultural grammar” (1996)

Chapter 15 is a translation of: German ‘cultural scripts’: public signs as a key to social attitudes and cultural values (1998)

Chapter 16 is a translation of: The meaning of Jesus’ parables: A semantic approach to the Gospels (1998)

See the original chapters for abstracts and links to explications and cultural scripts.

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(2000) Emotions in the gospels

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (2000). *Semantics, emotions and the meaning of the gospels. In Teresa Cabré, & Cristina Gelpi (Eds.), Lèxic, corpus i diccionaris (pp.103-121). Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Institut Universitari de Lingüística Aplicada.

(2000) Facial expressions

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on September 10, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (2000). The semantics of human facial expressions. Pragmatics and Cognition, 8(1), 142-183. DOI: 10.1075/pc.8.1.08wie

This paper points out that a major shift of paradigm is currently going on in the study of the human face and it seeks to articulate and to develop the fundamental assumptions underlying this shift. The main theses of the paper are: 1) Facial expressions can convey meanings comparable to the meanings of verbal utterances. 2) Semantic analysis (whether of verbal utterances or of facial expressions) must distinguish between the context-independent invariant and its contextual interpretations. 3) Certain components of facial behavior (“facial gestures”) do have constant context-independent meanings. 4) The meanings of facial components and configurations of components have an inherent first-person and present tense orientation. 5) The basis for the interpretation of facial gestures is, above all, experiential. 6) The meanings of some facial expressions are universally intelligible and can be interpreted without reference to any local conventions. 7) To be fruitful, the semantic analysis of facial expressions needs a methodology. This can be derived from the methodological experience of linguistic semantics. The author illustrates and supports these theses by analyzing a range of universally interpretable facial expressions such as the following ones: “brow furrowed” (i.e. eyebrows drawn together); eyebrows raised; eyes wide open; corners of the mouth raised; corners of the mouth lowered; mouth open (while not speaking); lips pressed together; upper lip and nose “raised” (and, consequently, nose wrinkled).

(2000) Grammatical categories

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on June 16, 2019.

Wierzbicka, Anna (2000). Lexical prototypes as a universal basis for cross-linguistic identification of “parts of speech”. In Petra M. Vogel, & Bernard Comrie (Eds.), Approaches to the typology of word classes (pp. 285-318). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110806120.285

Abstract:

According to the hypothesis outlined in this paper, so-called ‘parts of speech’ can be defined and compared across languages on the basis of certain universal exemplars. It is interesting to note, however, that the approach based on exemplars can be combined, to some extent, with considerations based on universal syntax — that is, on combinatorial and substitutional properties of classes based on lexical universals. On the basis of the present cursory examination of the traditional parts of speech, and of some of their modern extensions, it is hypothesized that word classes with a wider typological significance can always be expected to have some universal syntactic properties. The most important point, however, is that to be an effective tool in the description and comparison of languages, the metalanguage of linguistics must be based on empirically established linguistic universals; this applies to parts of speech as much as to any other aspect of linguistic typology and linguistic description.

Translations:

Into Russian:

Chapter 4 (pp. 134-170) of Вежбицкая, Анна (1999), Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

Chapter 7 (pp. 216-254) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2011), Семантические универсалии и базисные концепты [Semantic universals and basic concepts]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки славянских культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

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(2001) Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics [BOOK]

Published on June 16, 2019. Last updated on August 15, 2021.

Вежбицкая, Анна [Wierzbicka, Anna] (2001). Сопоставление культур через посредство лексики и прагматики [Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки Славянской Культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

Abstract:

This book is an anthology of papers and chapters by Anna Wierzbicka, originally published in English and appearing here in a Russian translation.

Table of contents:

  1. «Грусть» и «гнев» в русском языке: Неуниверсальность так называемых «базовых человеческих емоций» [“Sadness” and “anger” in the Russian language: The non-universality of the so-called “basic human emotions”]
  2. Angst
  3. Японские культурные сценарии: психология и «грамматика» культуры [Japanese cultural scripts: The psychology and “grammar” of culture]
  4. Немецкие «культурные сценарии»: обцественные знаки как ключ к понианию обцественных отношений и культурных ценностей [German ‘cultural scripts’: Public signs as a key to understanding social relations and cultural values]
  5. Значение Иисусовых притч: семантический подход к Евангелиям [The meaning of Jesus’ parables: A semantic approach to the Gospels]

More information:

Chapter 1 is a translation of: “Sadness” and “anger” in Russian: The non-universality of the so-called “basic human emotions” (1998)

Chapter 2 is a translation of: Angst (1998)

Chapter 3 is a translation of: Japanese cultural scripts: Cultural psychology and “cultural grammar” (1996)

Chapter 4 is a translation of: German ‘cultural scripts’: Public signs as a key to social attitudes and cultural values (1998)

Chapter 5 is a translation of: The meaning of Jesus’ parables: A semantic approach to the Gospels (1998)

See the original chapters for abstracts and links to explications and cultural scripts.

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(2001) Conceptual system

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 31, 2018.

Wierzbicka, Anna (2001). The conceptual system in the human mind. Humboldt Kosmos, 78, 20-21.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2001) Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective [BOOK]

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on December 8, 2019.

Harkins, Jean, & Wierzbicka, Anna (Eds.) (2001). Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110880168

Abstract:

This volume aims to enrich the current interdisciplinary theoretical discussion of human emo-tions by presenting studies based on extensive linguistic data from a wide range of languages of the world. Each language-specific study gives detailed semantic descriptions of the meanings of culturally salient emotion words and expressions, offering fascinating insights into people’s emotional lives in diverse cultures including Amharic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Lao, Malay, Mbula, Polish and Russian.

The book is unique in its emphasis on empirical language data, analysed in a framework free of ethnocentrism and not dependent upon English emotion terms, but relying instead on independently established conceptual universals. Students of languages and cultures, psychology and cognition will find this volume a rich resource of description and analysis of emotional meanings in cultural context.

Table of contents:

Introduction (Anna Wierzbicka, Jean Harkins)
Testing emotional universals in Amharic (Mengistu Amberber)
Emotions and the nature of persons in Mbula (Robert D. Bugenhagen)
Why Germans don’t feel”anger” (Uwe Durst)
Linguistic evidence for a Lao perspective on facial expression of emotion (N. J. Enfield)
Hati: A key word in the Malay vocabulary of emotion (Cliff Goddard)
Talking about anger in Central Australia (Jean Harkins)
Meanings of Japanese sound-symbolic emotion words (Rie Hasada)
Concepts of anger in Chinese (Pawel Kornacki)
Human emotions viewed through the Russian language (Irina B. Levontina, Anna A. Zalizniak)
A culturally salient Polish emotion: Przykro (pron. pshickro) (Anna Wierzbicka)
An inquiry into “sadness” in Chinese (Zhengdao Ye)

Each chapter has its own entry, where additional information is provided.

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(2001) Introduction [to Harkins & Wierzbicka (2001)]

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on December 8, 2019.

Wierzbicka, Anna, & Harkins, Jean (2001). Introduction. In Jean Harkins, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.) (2001), Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 1-34). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110880168.1

Abstract:

The purpose of the crosslinguistic studies presented in this volume is to demonstrate how the tools of linguistic analysis can be applied to produce more accurate descriptions of the meanings of emotion words and, more generally, ways of speaking about emotions in different languages. Such analyses of linguistic meaning not only complement findings from other approaches to the study of emotions, but help to resolve methodological problems that arise when these other approaches have to deal with data from different languages. Before proceeding to the language-specific studies, we draw readers’ attention to the relevance of language in the study of human emotions, and give some background to the approaches to analysing language data that are used in these studies.

By presenting detailed semantic descriptions of culturally-situated meanings of culturally salient words used in the “emotion talk” in different cultures, we can offer glimpses into other people’s emotional lives – without
imposing on those lives a perspective derived from the vocabulary and other resources of our own native language. Since the descriptions presented here are phrased in universal, that is, shared, concepts, they can be
both faithful to the perspective of the speaker whose emotions we purport to be talking about, and intelligible to others. (These others include scholars, who often don’t seem to realise that they too are speakers of another
language, with their own spectacles, tinted by their own native language.) We can combine the insiders’ point of view with intelligibility to outsiders.

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