Browsing results for The NSM toolkit
Published on May 27, 2019. Last updated on July 25, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2018). Heaven and hell: A cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural places. RASK, 48, 1–34.
Open access
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to devise a cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural place terms. To achieve this objective, six supernatural place concepts were analysed, and an explication for each concept was built. Comparing the explications yielded a seven-part semantic template. The usefulness of this semantic template is threefold. First, it eases the task of explicating supernatural place concepts because the parts of the template can serve as guidelines to be followed while constructing the explications. Second, it makes it easier to compare related supernatural place concepts from different languages. Third, it unveils the devices that are embodied in the structure of supernatural place concepts and that enable people to use these complex concepts without difficulty.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) aljanna, (E) gan eden, (E) geyhinom, (E) heaven, (E) hell, (E) jahannam
Published on November 19, 2017. Last updated on May 1, 2019.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2018). Charter of global ethic in Minimal English. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Minimal English for a global world: Improved communication using fewer words (pp. 113-141). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62512-6_6
Abstract:
Taking UNESCO’s Earth charter as its point of departure, this chapter argues that the globalizing world needs a global ethics. At the same time, the chapter builds on the Declaration toward a global ethic (1993) endorsed by the Parliament of the World’s Religions (and inspired by the Dalai Lama) whose Principle 6 reads: “This must be a Declaration translatable into other languages”. A charter of 24 ethical norms phrased in Minimal English is proposed as a platform for a global discourse on ethics.
More information:
Revised translation of a Polish original published in 2015 and again in 2017 as:
Wierzbicka, Anna (2015). Karta etyki globalnej w słowach uniwersalnych [A charter of global ethics in universal words]. Teksty Drugie, 2015(4), 257-279.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2017). Karta etyki globalnej w słowach uniwersalnych [A charter of global ethics in universal words]. In Jerzy Bartmiński, Stanisława Niebrzegowska-Bartmińska, Marta Nowosad-Bakalarczyk, & Jadwiga Puzynina (Eds.), Etyka słowa: Wybór opracowań. Vol. 1 (pp. 523-538). Lublin: UMCS.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) humane, (S) charter of global ethic
Published on April 2, 2018. Last updated on September 27, 2018.
Martín Arista, Javier (2018). The semantic poles of Old English: Toward the 3D representation of complex polysemy. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 33(1), 96-111. DOI: 10.1093/llc/fqx004
This article, which attempts to explain some aspects of verbal polysemy in Old English, develops its main claims with reference to NSM primes belonging to different categories (mental predicates, speech, actions/events/movement/contact, location/existence/possession/specification, life and death). It does not proceed to the identification of potential exponents, except in the case of the prime TRUE.
No rating is applied, since there is no engagement with NSM as a tool for semantic explication.
Published on September 26, 2017. Last updated on November 9, 2019.
Farese, Gian Marco (2018). Is KNOW a semantic universal? Shiru, wakaru and Japanese ethno-epistemology. Language Sciences, 66, 135-150.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2017.09.001
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the debated question of the universality of ‘know’ as a concept available to speakers of all languages. The NSM view is that all languages have a lexical exponent for the concept expressed in English by the word know. Epistemologist Masaharu Mizumoto has suggested that Japanese is a counter-example, because in this language two verbs, 知る shiru and わかる wakaru, are used in propositional knowledge attributions and neither is, he claims, exactly equivalent to know. Drawing on linguistic evidence from a corpus of Japanese and from Japanese contemporary literature, this paper shows that 知る shiru corresponds exactly in meaning to the English know and is the only Japanese exponent of the universal semantic prime KNOW. An NSM semantic explication of わかる wakaru phrased in both English and Japanese is presented to show that わかる wakaru is a complex concept that can be explicated via 知る shiru, but not vice-versa.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) I don't understand, (E) know how, (E) wakaru わかる, (T) Japanese
Published on August 18, 2018. Last updated on April 10, 2019.
Rosa, Rusdi Noor (2018). Makna verba ‘mancaliak‘ dalam Bahasa Minangkabau: Kajian Metabahasa Semantik Alami [Verbs of seeing in Minangkabau: A Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach]. Lingua Didaktika 12(1), 1-11. PDF (open access)
DOI: 10.24036/ld.v12i1.9787
Abstract:
This article is aimed at finding out the meaning of the Minangkabau (West Sumatra) verbs that are semantically similar to the local exponent of the prime SEE. Five native Minangkabau speakers living in the area of Padang were taken as subjects for data collection. The Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach was used for the description of the different meanings of verbs of seeing in the language. Based on the data analysis, it was found that, in Minangkabau, apart from the local exponent of the prime (MANCALIAK), there are a number of other verbs of seeing, including maliek, mancigok, manjanguak, maintik, manonton, mancenek, mamareso and mamparatian. Explications for these verbs are formulated in Indonesian NSM.
More information:
The article (written in Indonesian) also includes the Indonesian version of an earlier English explication of the word sad, translated into Indonesian as sedih.
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tags: (E) maintik, (E) maliek, (E) mamareso, (E) mamparatian, (E) mancenek, (E) mancigok, (E) manjanguak, (E) manonton, (E) sedih, (T) Indonesian
Published on November 19, 2017. Last updated on September 5, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff, & Wierzbicka, Anna (2018). Minimal English and how it can add to Global English. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Minimal English for a global world: Improved communication using fewer words (pp. 5-27). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62512-6_2
The concept of Minimal English was first proposed by Anna Wierzbicka in 2014 as a radically reduced ‘mini English’ that can provide a common auxiliary interlanguage for speakers of different languages, and as a global means for clarifying, elucidating, storing and comparing ideas. This idea is taken up by Cliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka in this chapter. Aside from arguing for the benefits of using cross-translatable words, they stress that Minimal English is intended not to replace or supplant ordinary English, but to add to its effectiveness as a global tool for communication and discourse. The chapter outlines the origins, purpose and composition of Minimal English and explains its value as a supplement to English in its role as a global lingua franca. It argues for the great importance of cross-translatability in many contexts and shows with examples that many taken-for-granted words and concepts of Anglo English are heavily culture-laden and hence untranslatable. The chapter also clarifies how Minimal English is different from Ogden’s ‘Basic English’ and from Plain English.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (T) English, (T) semantic molecules
Published on November 19, 2017. Last updated on September 5, 2018.
Goddard, Cliff (2018). Minimal English: The science behind it. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Minimal English for a global world: Improved communication using fewer words (pp. 29-70). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62512-6_3
This chapter explains in an accessible way the linguistic research that underpins the specifics of Minimal English. The “science behind Minimal English” is the body of research, by linguists working in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach, into which words and grammatical patterns match across the languages of the world. The chapter includes a review of all semantic primes, classified in twelve groups.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (T) English
Published on November 19, 2017. Last updated on May 1, 2019.
Christian, David (2018). Big History meets Minimal English. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Minimal English for a global world: Improved communication using fewer words (pp. 201-224). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62512-6_9
Abstract:
“Big History” refers to the teaching of human history at very large scales, including evolutionary history and cosmology. If Minimal English attempts to find a common language for humanity, Big History attempts to find a common historical story, a modern origin story shared by all humans. To what extent, then, can a modern science-based origin story be expressed in Minimal English? In dialogue with Wierzbicka’s chapter on the universe, which immediately precedes this one (“Talking about the universe in Minimal English: Teaching science through words that children can understand”), this chapter asks what aspects of a modern origin story will prove most challenging to the Minimal English project.
The appendix to this paper is a “partial history of the world and the rise of humanity, told in Minimal English” (Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard, September 2016). The rating below refers to the appendix.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) Partial history of the world and the rise of humanity
Published on November 19, 2017. Last updated on May 1, 2019.
Goddard, Cliff (Ed.) (2018). Minimal English for a global world: Improved communication using fewer words. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62512-6
Abstract:
‘Minimal English’ is a new tool for improving communication and promoting clearer thinking in a world where the use of Global English can create numerous comprehension and communication issues. It is based on research findings from within cross-linguistic semantics, in particular the NSM approach. The essays and studies in this book are by leading experts who explore the value and application of Minimal English in various fields, including ethics, health, human rights discourse, education and international relations. Informed guidelines and practical advice on how to communicate in clear and cross-translatable ways using the new tool is also provided.
Table of contents:
- Introduction (Cliff Goddard)
- Minimal English and how it can add to Global English (Cliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka)
- Minimal English: The science behind it (Cliff Goddard)
- Minimal English and diplomacy (William Maley)
- Internationalizing Minimal English: Perils and parallels (Nicholas Farrelly and Michael Wesley)
- Charter of Global Ethic in Minimal English (Anna Wierzbicka)
- Torture laid bare: Global English and human rights (Annabelle Mooney)
- Talking about the universe in Minimal English: Teaching science through words that children can understand (Anna Wierzbicka)
- Big History meets Minimal English (David Christian)
- Introducing the concept of the ‘65 words’ to the public in Finland (Ulla Vanhatalo and Juhana Torkki)
- Narrative Medicine across languages and cultures: Using Minimal English for increased comparability of patients’ narratives (Bert Peeters and Maria Giulia Marini)
More information:
Each chapter has its own entry and its own rating, except for Chapter 4, which illustrates the pitfalls and complexities of diplomatic communication, particularly in crisis situations. Apart from an imperfect rendering of Wierzbicka’s 1997 explication of the English word freedom (in Understanding Cultures through their Key Words, p. 154), Chapter 4 does not contain any explications using either NSM or Minimal English.
Published on November 19, 2017. Last updated on August 15, 2021.
Vanhatalo, Ulla, & Torkki, Juhana (2018). Introducing the concept of the ‘65 words’ to the public in Finland. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Minimal English for a global world: Improved communication using fewer words (pp. 225-258). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62512-6_10
The authors report and reflect on their experiences of popularizing the ‘65 words’ method in various domains of public life in Finland. The ‘65 words’ method is a simplified version of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, modified and adapted to the Finnish language. Case studies are presented from media, business, politics, the church, and education.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (T) Finnish
Published on June 8, 2018. Last updated on September 1, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2018). I know: A human universal. In Stephen Stich, Masaharu Mizumoto, & Eric McCready (Eds.), Epistemology for the rest of the world (pp. 215-250). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on December 20, 2017. Last updated on August 21, 2018.
Wierzbicka, Anna, & Goddard, Cliff (2018). Talking about our bodies and their parts in Warlpiri. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 38(1), 31-62. DOI: 10.1080/07268602.2018.1393862
Linguists generally assume that all languages have some words for parts of the human body such as ‘head’, ‘hands’, ‘mouth’, and ‘legs’, but it is not so widely agreed that speakers of all languages can speak – or even consciously think – of the designata of such words as ‘parts of the body’. NSM researchers have long maintained that PART(S) is a universal semantic prime, i.e., an indefinable meaning expressible by words or phrases in all human languages. However, it has been claimed that the Australian language Warlpiri, for instance, lacks any suitable lexical equivalent of ‘part(s)’. Using data from the Warlpiri English Encyclopedic Dictionary, this study contests this claim, arguing that the relevant sense of ‘part’ exists in Warlpiri as one sense of the polysemous closed-class item yangka (whose main meaning can be stated, roughly, as ‘that one, you know the one’). The study also considers broader issues to do with semantic theory, polysemy and translation.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on July 28, 2020. Last updated on July 28, 2020.
Habib, Sandy (2019). NSM substantives: the Arabic and Hebrew exponents of six simple, universal concepts. International Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 5(2), 188-207.
Open access
Abstract:
Of all the substantives, only six are regarded by the NSM approach as being simple and universal. These six substantives are realized in English by means of the words I, you, someone, something, people, and body. While proving their simplicity is evidenced by the fact that they cannot be defined further using simpler terms, proving their universality requires identifying them in as many languages as possible. This paper aims to do so in three Semitic languages, which are Jish Arabic, Standard Arabic, and Hebrew, and demonstrates that these six concepts indeed have exponents in these three languages.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on January 8, 2019. Last updated on February 20, 2020.
Holden, Josh (2019). Semantic primes in Denesųłiné: In search of some lexical “universals”. International Journal of American Linguistics, 85(1), 75-121.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/700319
Abstract:
This study examines whether the semantic primes of NSM are attested in Denesųłiné (Athabaskan, Northern Canada; aka Dene). It argues that some of them are problematic, including (BE) SOMEWHERE, BAD, MOMENT, FEEL, KIND, and PART. Dene seems not to express partonymy and typonymy via abstract lexical items. This article suggests improvements to NSM in light of the Dene data and reflects on how semantic decomposition approaches like NSM can improve the documentation and analysis of this language.
Rating:
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 15, 2022.
Ye, Zhengdao. (2019).The semantics of emotion: From theory to empirical analysis. Pritzker, Sonya.E., Fenigsen, Janina., & Wilce, James.M. (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Language and Emotion (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367855093
Abstract
This chapter provides a systematic account of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to emotion and “affective science,” especially how it addresses three methodological questions: (a) how emotional meaning can be explicated in terms that are psychologically real to people; (b) how culture-specific meanings can be convened authentically to another linguacultural community, so that important nuances in the conceptualizations of emotions can be appreciated by cultural outsiders; and (c) how commonalities and differences in human experiences can be identified and articulated? The chapter draws upon a wide selection of NSM work across many languages, including Bislama, English, Mbula (PNG), and Chinese.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) fago, (E) horrified, (E) lele imbai pa, (E) love, (E) mata-iyoyou pa, (E) Mi kros, (E) Mi les, (E) petrified, (E) qiān cháng guà dù 牵肠挂肚, (E) téng/téng’ài, (E) terrified, (E) va ŋu/ŋú, (E) xìngfú 幸福, (E) xīnlǐ hén kŭ, (T) English
Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on January 11, 2022.
Goddard, Cliff, Maite Taboada, & Radoslava Trnavac (In press). The semantics of evaluational adjectives: Perspectives from Natural Semantic Metalanguage and Appraisal. Functions of Language, 26(3), 308-342.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.00029.god
Abstract:
The authors apply the NSM approach to the lexical-semantic analysis of English evaluational adjectives and compare the results with the picture developed in the Appraisal Framework (Martin & White 2005). The analysis is corpus-assisted, with examples mainly drawn from film and book reviews, and supported by collocational and statistical information from WordBanks Online. We propose NSM explications for 15 evaluational adjectives, arguing that they fall into five groups, each of which corresponds to a distinct semantic template. The groups can be sketched as follows: “First-person thought-plus-affect”, e.g. wonderful; “Experiential”, e.g. entertaining; “Experiential with bodily reaction”, e.g. gripping; “Lasting impact”, e.g. memorable; “Cognitive evaluation”, e.g. complex, excellent. These groupings and semantic templates are compared with the classifications in the Appraisal Framework’s system of Appreciation. In addition, we are particularly interested in sentiment analysis, the automatic identification of evaluation and subjectivity in text. We discuss the relevance of the two frameworks for sentiment analysis and other language technology applications.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) brilliant, (E) complex, (E) delightful, (E) entertaining, (E) excellent, (E) exciting, (E) great, (E) gripping, (E) impressive, (E) memorable, (E) outstanding, (E) powerful, (E) terrific, (E) wonderful
Published on January 15, 2022. Last updated on January 15, 2022.
Wierzbicka, Anna. (2019). The biblical roots of English ‘love’: The concept of ‘love’ in a historical and cross-linguistic perspective. International Journal of Language and Culture 6(2) 225-254. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.18006.wie
Abstract
Seen from a broad cross-linguistic perspective, the English verb (to) love is quite unusual because it has very broad scope: it can apply to a mother’s love, a husband’s love, a sister’s love, etc. without any restrictions whatsoever; and the same applies to its counterparts in many other European languages. Trying to locate the origins of this phenomenon, I have looked to the Bible. Within the Bible, I have found both continuity and innovation. In the Hebrew Bible, the verb ’āhēb, rendered in the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint with the verb agapao, implies a “preferential love”, e.g. it is used for a favourite wife of a favourite son. In the New Testament, the concept of ‘love’ loses the “preferential” components and thus becomes applicable across the board: between anybody and anybody else.
The paper argues that the very broad meaning of verbs like love in English, aimer in French, lieben in German, etc. reflects a shared conceptual heritage of many European languages, with its roots in the New Testament; and it shows that by taking a semantic perspective on these historical developments, and exploring them through the rigorous framework of NSM and Minimal English, we can arrive at clear and verifiable hypotheses about a theme which is of great general interest, regardless of one’s own religious and philosophical views and commitments.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) love, (T) English
Published on January 10, 2022. Last updated on January 10, 2022.
Tissari, Heli, Vanhatalo, Ulla. & Siiroinen, Mari. (2019). From corpus-assisted to corpus-driven NSM explications: The case of Finnish viha (anger, hate). In Lege artis. Language yesterday, today, tomorrow. The Journal of University of SS Cyril and Methodius in Trnava. Trnava: University of SS Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, 2019, IV (1), June 2019, p. 290-334. ISSN 2453-8035
Abstract:
NSM researchers have not used corpus data very systematically thus far. One could talk about corpus-assisted rather than corpus-based or corpus-driven research. This article suggests a way to not only base research on corpus data, but also to let it guide us in defining words in terms of NSM. It presents a new method, which we have developed. Our data come from the Suomi24 Sentences Corpus and concerns the Finnish emotion words viha (‘anger, hate’), vihata (‘to hate’) and vihainen (‘angry’).
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) anger, (E) viha, (E) vihainen, (E) vihata
Published on November 9, 2019. Last updated on November 9, 2019.
Farese, Gian Marco (2019). Italian discourse: A cultural semantic analysis. Lanham: Lexington.
Abstract:
Using NSM methodology, this book presents a comprehensive analysis of the most important Italian cultural key words and cultural scripts that foreign learners and cultural outsiders need to know to become linguistically and culturally proficient in Italian. It focuses on the words and speech practices that are used most frequently in Italian discourse and that are uniquely Italian, both because they are untranslatable into other languages and because they are reflective of salient aspects of Italian culture and society. The book sheds light on ways in which the Italian language is related to Italians’ character, values, and way of thinking, and it does so in contrastive perspective with English. Each chapter focuses on a cultural keyword, putting it into cultural context and tracing it through a series of written texts including novels, plays, poems, and songs.
Table of contents:
- Parlami e ti dirò chi sei
- Che bello!
- Una brutta storia
- Italiani, brava gente
- Italiani sapientoni
- Italiani attori
- Italiani comandanti
- Conclusione
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Published on October 16, 2018. Last updated on May 19, 2019.
Marini, Maria Giulia (2019). Languages of care in Narrative Medicine: Words, space and time in the healthcare ecosystem. Cham: Springer Nature.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-94727-3
Abstract:
This book explains how narrative medicine can improve evidence-based medicine (EBM), making it more effective and efficient, giving patients better quality of life and offering more satisfaction to all health care providers. It discusses not only the disease experienced by the person who is ill, but also focuses on the context and the culture, and investigates how narrative medicine can make other disciplines around the globe more applicable, less manipulative, and more “scientific”. Only by integrating the narrative aspects can EBM become more effective and efficient, with fewer uncured patients, more satisfied patients with a better quality of life, and satisfaction for all health care providers.
Every chapter is divided into two main sections: the first presents the latest research in the field, with comments and interviews with experts, while the second section provides a list of practical exercises and tasks.
This is a trail-blazing book, bringing health care and “human understanding” closer than ever before. A key feature of the book is the use of NSM, which can help humanize the relations between sick people and the caring professions by offering a new “language of care”: Basic Human. This is the first book to take this perspective on illness and care. Reaching other people through shared concepts is an art which can help us at many times, but perhaps especially when we are ill, or care for the ill.
Rating:
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags: (E) anxiety, (E) temperature, (E) trauma
