Tag: (E) sorry

(2017) English, Korean – Speech acts

Yu, Kyong-Ae (2017). Perceptions and functions of Korean mianhada: comparison with American English sorry. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 25(2), 197-224.

DOI: http://doi.org/10.14353/sjk.2017.25.2.07 / Open access

Abstract:

Sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic conventions for apology vary from culture to culture. While the illocutionary purpose of apologizing in English is the speaker’s sense of social obligation and Japanese sumimasen involves social-self with a social alter, this study argues that Korean mianhada is an apology from the speaker’s moral perspective linked with collective-self. Employing NSM, this study discusses that sorry is a separate concept but mianhada is a nebulous concept mixed with other emotions, e.g., thanks and love. In addition, presenting the examples from corpus-based dictionaries, COCA, and the Sejong 21st Century Corpus, this study discusses that sorry is authentically used as indirect and ritualistic apologies while mianhada is used as direct, indirect, ritualistic and substantive apologies. Finally, distinguishing main functions of mianhada into a sincere apology, a pseudo-apology, gratitude, a request initiator, a preclosing signal, and a territory invasion signal to strangers, this study provides cultural and ethnographical explanations.

More information:

Only Kim (2008) has analysed the semantic differences in cultural perceptions between Australian sorry and Korean mianhada using NSM,  but the analysis proposed here for Korean mianhada is different.

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Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner

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(2000) Iban – Emotions

Metom, Lilly (2000). An application and interpretation of Iban emotion concepts of shame/shyness, anger and apology using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage and concrete/abstract cultural continuum. In Michael Leigh (Ed.), Borneo 2000: Ethnicity, culture and society. Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial Borneo Research Conference (pp. 250-277). Kuching: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

Cultures differ in their style of communication. Iban culture is no exception. The style of interaction and communication of the Ibans is also unique; expressions of emotion in Iban cannot be simply explained or translated into English since meanings and use of the expressions are culture-specific. Furthermore, drawing on the fact that Iban people are more “concrete” in their relation with other members of the group, expressions of emotion such as anger, embarrassment, joy, fear and others are normally conveyed non-verbally. Hence, this paper explores and investigates how these emotion concepts are expressed and used in the daily conduct of the Iban people. Three categories of selected Iban emotions are explicated and analysed here, namely the emotion expression of shame/shyness, the emotion expression of anger, and the emotion expression of apology. In order to explain culturally the emotion words, Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) is used as an analytical tool to explicate the words, so as to avoid ethnocentric bias.


Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner

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(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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(2008) English, Korean – Speech acts

Kim, Heesoo (2008). The semantic and pragmatic analysis of South Korean and Australian English apology speech acts. Journal of Pragmatics, 40, 257-278.

DOI: https://doi.org.10.1016/j.pragma.2007.11.003

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to undertake a semantic and pragmatic analysis of South Korean apology speech acts, in particular with respect to how South Korean apologetic speech act expressions differ conceptually from Australian English expressions of apology. NSM is used to clarify how the main South Korean apologetic speech act expression mianhada differs conceptually from Australian English sorry; in the process, some distinctive features of South Korean culture are illustrated. South Korean apology speech act strategies are investigated in seven situations; this investigation is modeled on the work of Blum-Kulka and collaborators.

The findings of this study are that the attitudinal meanings of mianhada and sorry, as well as the range of illocutionary acts associated with the two expressions, are different. Decomposing mianhada and sorry into their illocutionary components provides a fine-grained description of what are assumed to be the attitudes and states of mind of South Koreans and Australians, respectively, when performing an apology. The study further suggests that conceptualizing speech act expressions through the use of semantically simple words may help second language learners acquire the proper ways of carrying out speech acts (including non-verbal expressions) in the target language and culture.

More information:

For a different analysis, see:

Yu, Kyong-Ae (2017). Perceptions and functions of Korean mianhada: comparison with American English sorry. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 25(2), 197-224.

Rating:


Crude application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner

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(1987) English, Ewe – Linguistic routines

Ameka, Felix (1987). A comparative analysis of linguistic routines in two languages: English and Ewe. Journal of Pragmatics, 11(3), 299-326. DOI: 10.1016/0378-2166(87)90135-4

It is widely acknowledged that linguistic routines are not only embodiments of the socio-cultural values of speech communities that use them, but their knowledge and appropriate use also form an essential part of a speaker’s communicative/pragmatic competence. Despite this, many studies concentrate more on describing the use of routines rather than explaining the socio-cultural aspects of their meaning and the way they affect their use. It is the contention of this paper that there is a need to go beyond descriptions to explanations and explications of the use and meaning of routines that are culturally and socially revealing. This view is illustrated by a comparative analysis of functionally equivalent formulaic expressions in English and Ewe. The similarities are noted and the differences explained in terms of the socio-cultural traditions associated with the respective languages. It is argued that insights gained from such studies are valuable for cross-cultural understanding and communication as well as for second language pedagogy.

Most of the routines selected for explication are used either to congratulate people when good things happen to them or to console, i.e. show empathy with people who experience something bad. One conversational routine in Ewe that is also included reflects an interesting social and cultural norm in Ewe society related to the use of the left hand instead of the right.


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

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