Tag: (E) hurt

(1992) Various languages – Emotion concepts

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Defining emotion concepts. Cognitive Science, 16(4), 539-581. DOI: 10.1207/s15516709cog1604_4

This article demonstrates that emotion concepts – including the so-called basic ones, such as anger or sadness – can be defined in terms of universal semantic primitives such as GOOD, BAD, DO, HAPPEN, KNOW, and WANT, in terms of which all areas of meaning, in all languages, can be rigorously and revealingly portrayed.

The definitions proposed here take the form of certain prototypical scripts or scenarios, formulated in terms of thoughts, wants, and feelings. These scripts, however, can be seen as formulas providing rigorous specifications of necessary and sufficient conditions (not for emotions as such, but for emotion concepts), and they do not support the idea that boundaries between emotion concepts are “fuzzy”. On the contrary, the small set of universal semantic primitives employed here (which has emerged from two decades of empirical investigations by the author and colleagues) demonstrates that even apparent synonyms such as sad and unhappy embody different – and fully specifiable – conceptual structures.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2001) Polish – Emotions (PRZYKRO)

Wierzbicka, Anna (2001). A culturally salient Polish emotion: Przykro [pron. ‘pshickro]. In Jean Harkins, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 337-357). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110880168.337

Abstract:

The author analyses, on the basis of naturally occurring examples, the Polish word przykro, which, she argues, plays an important role in Polish emotion talk. She compares and contrasts this word with its closest English counterparts, such as hurt, offended, sorry, and sad, and she shows how each of these English words differs in meaning from the Polish key word przykro. To be able to show, clearly and precisely, what these differences are, she uses NSM and, in doing so, seeks to demonstrate the explanatory power of the proposed framework (the “NSM” semantic theory). At the same time, the author shows how language-specific lexical categories such as the Polish word przykro are linked with a culture’s core values. She also shows the cultural implications of the lexical category “hurt” in Anglo culture, and discusses the cultural implications of the absence of a word like przykro in English, and of a word like hurt in Polish.

More information:

Also published as:

Wierzbicka, Anna (2001). A culturally salient Polish emotion: Przykro [‘pshickro]. The International Journal of Group Tensions, 30(1), 3-27. DOI: 10.1023/a:1026697815334

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2012) English, Pitjantjatjara – Emotions: pain

Wierzbicka, Anna (2012). Is pain a human universal? A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective on pain. Emotion Review, 4(3), 307-317. DOI: 10.1177/1754073912439761

A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 6 (pp. 127-155) of:

Goddard, Cliff & Wierzbicka, Anna (2014). Words and meanings: Lexical semantics across domains, languages, and cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pain is a global problem whose social, economic and psychological costs are immeasurable. It is now seen as the most common reason why people seek medical (including psychiatric) care. But what is pain? This article shows that the discourse of pain tends to suffer from the same problems of ethnocentrism and obscurity as the discourse of emotions in general. Noting that, in the case of pain, the costs of miscommunication are particularly high, this article offers a new paradigm for communicating about pain. It shows how the use of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) techniques can help in this area, as in other areas concerned with human subjectivity, and can lead to a greater understanding between psychologists, psychiatrists, medical practitioners, social workers, and ordinary suffering mortals.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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