Tag: (E) hi

(2018) English, Italian – The cultural semantics of address practices [BOOK]


Farese, Gian Marco (2018). The cultural semantics of address practices: A contrastive study between English and Italian. Lanham: Lexington.

Abstract:

This book presents a contrastive analysis of various forms of address used in English and Italian from the perspective of cultural semantics, the branch of linguistics that investigates the relationship between meaning and culture in discourse. The objects of the analysis are the interactional meanings expressed by different forms of address in these two languages, which are compared adopting the methodology of the NSM approach. The forms analysed include greetings, titles and opening and closing salutations used in letters and e-mails in the two languages. Noticeably, the book presents the first complete categorization of Italian titles used as forms of address ever made on the basis of precise semantic criteria.

The analysis also investigates the different cultural values and assumptions underlying address practices in English and Italian, and emphasizes the risks of miscommunication caused by different address practices in intercultural interactions. Every chapter presents numerous examples taken from language corpora, contemporary English and Italian literature and personal e-mails and letters.

The book encourages a new, innovative approach to the analysis of forms of address: it proposes a new analytical method for the analysis of forms of address which can be applied to the study of other languages systematically. In addition, the book emphasizes the role of culture in address practices and takes meaning as the basis for understanding the differences in use across languages and the difficulties in translating forms of address of different languages. Combining semantics, ethnopragmatics, intercultural communication and translation theory, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach and brings together various fields in the social sciences: linguistics, anthropology, cross-cultural studies and sociology.

Table of contents:

  1. Analyzing address practices from a cultural semantic point of view
  2. “Sorry boss”: an unrecognized category of English address nouns
  3. “Prego, signore”: the semantics of Italian “titles” used to address people
  4. “Hi, how are you?”
  5. “Ciao!” or “ciao ciao”?
  6. “Dear customers, …”
  7. “Caro Mario,” “Gentile cliente,” “Egregio dottore”
  8. “Best wishes,” “kind regards,” “yours sincerely”
  9. “Distinti,” “cordiali,” “affettuosi saluti”
  10. Italian cultural scripts for address practices
  11. Australian cultural scripts for address practices
  12. Address practices in intercultural communication
  13. Concluding remarks

More information:

Revised version of the author’s PhD thesis, Australian National University (2017).

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2015) English, Italian – Greetings


Farese, Gian Marco (2015). Hi vs. ciao: NSM as a tool for cross-linguistic pragmatics. Journal of Pragmatics, 85, 1-17.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.05.020

This paper presents the results of the semantic analysis of two salutations, hi (English) and ciao (Italian), using NSM. The analysis is aimed at making two points: first, that ‘‘greetings’’ have a proper semantic content consisting of expressed attitudes and feelings that can be described in simple, cross-translatable words; second, that salutations are not only performed differently, but also conceived differently across languages. This can create potential cases of miscommunication in cross-cultural interactions. To show this, the interactional meaning of hi is compared with that of ciao; two different semantic explications are proposed to capture various aspects of their meaning emerging from linguistic evidence. The implications for cross-linguistic pragmatics are also discussed.

Rating:


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