Tag: (E) ‘ār عار

(1995) Various languages – ‘We’

Goddard, Cliff (1995). Who are we? The natural semantics of pronouns. Language Sciences, 17(1), 99-121. DOI: 10.1016/0388-0001(95)00011-J

Working within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework of Anna Wierzbicka, this study proposes reductive paraphrase explications for a range of first-person pronominal meanings. A general explicatory schema is first developed for English we. It is then shown how this can be elaborated to accommodate the inclusive/exclusive distinction, dual number and trial number, and how it can be applied to minimal-augmented systems. Data is taken from various languages of Australia and Asia. It is argued that NSM explications are preferable to conventional feature analyses for two reasons: they are less subject to charges of arbitrariness and obscurity; and they are located within a comprehensive theory of semantic representation.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2010) Arabic – Emotions (shame)

Al Jallad, Nader (2010). The concept of “shame” in Arabic: Bilingual dictionaries and the challenge of defining culture-based emotions. Language Design, 12, 31-57. PDF (open access)

This paper aims at providing a theoretical framework for analysing, understanding, and describing the very complex emotion of ‘shame’ in Arabic. The complexity of this emotion is highlighted by problems of translatability, as shown by a survey of how Arabic ‘shame’ words are defined in four English-Arabic and Arabic-English bilingual dictionaries. The comparison of the various definitions highlights the need to define not only the emotion of ‘shame’, but also all other emotions and culture-loaded words in general, by means of universal language- and culture-free formulas. To test the proposed theoretical framework, a Natural Semantic Metalanguage-based system is used to define the ‘shame’ words addressed in this paper.


Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner

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