Browsing results for Minimal 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.
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.
Diget, Ida Stevia. (2021). Minimal English for Health: Reader Accessibility in Public Health Communication About COVID-19 in Australia (with Contrastive Reference to Denmark). In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 281-318.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_11
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on August 15, 2021. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Machin, Elita (2021). Minimal English and Revitalisation Education: Assisting Linguists to Explain Grammar in Simple, Everyday Words. In Goddard, Cliff (ed.). Minimal Languages in Action. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan pp 83-107
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64077-4_4
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) adjective, (E) demonstrative, (E) forms of a suffix, (E) forms of a word, (E) noun, (E) pronoun, (E) root and suffix, (E) verb
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 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
Published on January 10, 2022. Last updated on January 10, 2022.
Wilson, Bart J. and Farese, Gian Marco (forthcoming) A Universally Translatable Explication of Adam Smith’s Famous Proposition on ‘The Extent of the Market’ (June 16, 2021). Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3682250 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3682250
Abstract:
Following Adam Smith’s line of argument, we examine the semantics of four economic principles in Chapter III of the Wealth of Nations that compose his famous proposition “that the division of labour is limited by the extent of the market.” We apply the Natural Semantic Metalanguage framework in linguistics to produce a series of explications that are clear and plain, cross‐translatable into any language, intelligible to twenty‐first century readers, and faithfully close to the original text. Our paper explicates Smith’s logical argument in Chapter III and demonstrates how his ideas can be shared among speakers with different linguacultural backgrounds in line with the truly global view of economics that, we argue, Adam Smith had in mind: economics intended as the science of all people living and doing things together with other people to live well and to feel good.
