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(1992-93) Theoretical lexicography

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992/93). What are the uses of theoretical lexicography? Dictionaries, 14, 44-78.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1992/93). Replies to discussants. Dictionaries, 14, 139-159.

DOI (main article): 10.1353/dic.1992.0014
DOI (replies): 10.1353/dic.1992.0016

A more recent publication building on the above is chapter 9 (pp. 258-286) of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Abstract:

There is more to practical lexicography than getting the meanings right, but trying to get the meanings right is vitally important. If theoretical lexicography couldn’t help in this respect, by providing ideas, principles, criteria, models, and guidelines, one could really doubt its raison d’être. However, theoretical lexicography can indeed offer all these things. Most importantly, it can offer a tool that can by itself remedy a large proportion of the ills of traditional lexicography: a NATURAL LEXICOGRAPHIC METALANGUAGE, derived from the NATURAL SEMANTIC METALANGUAGE, and based on universal semantic primes.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(1999) Religion, religious understanding

Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). What did Jesus mean? The Lord’s Prayer translated into universal human concepts. In Ralph Bisschops, & James Francis (Eds.), Metaphor, canon and community: Jewish, Christian and Islamic approaches (pp. 180-216). Canterbury: Peter Lang.

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is not to suggest that Bible translators around the globe should henceforth start translating the Lord’s Prayer into universal concepts, avoiding culture-specific images and metaphorical terms such as father, kingdom, or bread. Images and terms of this kind are part and parcel of Jesus’ teaching, and some equivalents for them must be forged in any language into which the Gospels are translated.

The intended meaning of these images and terms, however, can be further elucidated in a language so simple that even a child can understand it, and based on concepts that are universally available. It is also important to recognize that behind the use of imagery and metaphor lie very specific messages – messages that can be reconstructed in a largely non-metaphorical language, and in any case without any metaphors that are not universal.

More information:

An earlier version of this chapter was published in 1995 and reissued in 2011 (with different pagination) in the LAUD Working Papers, Series A, General and Theoretical Papers, 360.

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