Wierzbicka, Anna (1989). Semantic primitives and lexical universals. Quaderni di semantica, 10(1), 103-121.
Abstract:
Language is a tool for expressing meanings. The meanings we express constitute complex and culture-specific configurations of a restricted number of elementary concepts – conceptual building blocks. To be able to decode meanings with precision, to state them, to compare them across language boundaries, to study their growing complexity in child language, and so on, we must know what these elementary units are. To discover them, we must proceed by trial and error. A revealing semantic description is impossible without a well justified set of semantic prim(itiv)es. But a set of well justified prim(itiv)es cannot be found by mere theorizing. It can only be found on the basis of large scale lexicographic research.
More information:
This paper is best read in conjunction with the companion paper published by the same author in the same journal (Wierzbicka, Anna (1989). Semantic primitives – The expanding set. Quaderni di semantica, 10(2), 309-332).
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
