Browsing results for MOMENT

(2008) Tarifyt Berber – MOMENT

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 20, 2018.

Elouazizi, Noureddine, & Trnavac, Radaslava (2008). Identification and syntax of semantic prime MOMENT in Tarifyt Berber. In Cliff Goddard (Ed.), Cross-linguistic semantics (pp. 241-258). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.102.15elo

This study contributes to our understanding of the status of the newly proposed NSM semantic prime MOMENT using data from Tarifyt Berber. The syntax of the primary Tarifyt Berber exponent ġar is exclusively adverbial and requires a biclausal construction. We argue that this reflects the universal “conceptual syntax” of MOMENT, because the aspect-like modification provided by MOMENT requires the implicit presence of an “eventive” frame. The English sentence It happened in one moment, for example, is elliptical for a semantically equivalent,
but more explicit, expanded version: When it happened, it happened in one moment. English expressions such as at that moment and for a moment also lack direct equivalents in Tarifyt Berber.


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2019) Dene – NSM primes

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