A resource base of publications using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. 1,100+ detailed notices, and counting!
Bułat Silva, Zuzanna (2020). TIME in Portuguese saudade and other words of longing. In Bromhead, Helen and Zhengdao Ye (eds.). Meaning, Life and Culture. Canberra: ANU Press pp 211-227
DOI: http://doi.org/10.22459/MLC.2020.11 (Open Access)
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Goddard, Cliff (2010). Universals and variation in the lexicon of mental state concepts. In Barbara C. Malt, & Phillip Wolff (Eds.), Words and the mind: How words capture human experience (pp. 72-92). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311129.003.0005
Abstract:
The first two sections of this chapter provide an overview of NSM research and findings, with a particular focus on mental state concepts. The next two sections show how NSM techniques make it possible to reveal complex and culture-specific meanings in detail and in terms that are readily transposable across languages. Examples include emotion terms, epistemic verbs, and ethnopsychological constructs in English, Chinese, Russian, and Korean. The next section discusses the relationship between linguistic meanings (word meanings) and cognition and elucidates the theoretical and methodological implications for cognitive science. The chapter concludes with the suggestion that people’s subjective emotional experience can be shaped or coloured to some extent by the lexical categories of their language.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Ye, Zhengdao (2001). An inquiry into “sadness” in Chinese. In Jean Harkins, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 359-404). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110880168.359
This paper attempts to overcome the methodological problems that plague emotion studies by relying on the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Through the explication of three so-called “sadness-like” Chinese emotion terms (悲 bēi, 哀 ai, and 愁 chóu), this paper will show how the NSM approach can provide a neutral comparative grid for further inquiries into the meaning of emotion concepts across languages and cultures.
The paper first provides a very general discussion of the Chinese emotion lexicon from a morphological point of view, followed by an in-depth semantic analysis of 悲 bēi, 哀 ai, and 愁 chóu in NSM. The discussion draws on linguistic evidence, including well-known textual examples, lexicalized items and conventionalized phrases and idioms that are familiar to the Chinese ear.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Kornacki, Paweł (1995). Heart & face: Semantics of Chinese emotion concepts. PhD thesis, Australian National University.
Abstract:
This thesis uses NSM to explore the conceptual organization of a subset of the emotion vocabulary of Modern Standard Chinese. Chapter One (Introduction) provides background information on the analytic perspective adopted in the thesis, the sources of data, and a preliminary discussion of some of the issues in the early Chinese ethnotheory of “emotion”. Chapter Two explicates the key concept of 心 xin ‘heart/mind’, which is the cognitive, moral, and emotional ‘centre’ of a person. Chapter Three discusses two related notions, and 脸 liăn, usually glossed in English by means of the word face; both notions speak to the culturally perceived relevance to the self of other people’s judgements. Chapter Four develops this theme further, dealing with the ‘social feelings’ of Chinese, i.e. reactions to the things people say and think about us. Chapter Five focuses on the semantic field of Chinese ‘anger’-like expressions. Chapter Six analyses the lexical data pertinent to the conceptualization of different kinds of subjectively ‘bad’ feelings, whereas Chapter Seven discusses the emotional reactions to various types of good situations and events.
Wherever possible, the thesis seeks to probe into the culturally based aspects of the conceptual structure of emotion words by drawing on a variety of anthropological, psychological and sociological studies of the Chinese society. On the methodological level, the thesis attempts to demonstrate that the bias inherent in conducting the cultural analysis with complex, language-specific notions (e.g., ‘anger’, ‘shame’, ‘happiness’) can be subverted through a recourse to universally shared simple meanings.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
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Crude application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
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Approximate application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
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Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner |
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Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners |
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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners |