Tag: (T) English
Moonan, Robert John (2007). A cultural script analysis of an English-Thai bilingual speaker’s nominative usage of mommy in English yes/no question formation. PhD thesis, University of South Carolina.
Each culture has its own specific linguistic norms, values, and practices. To avoid any ethnocentric bias in the attempt to capture these linguistic norms, values, practices, Cultural Script Theory proposes the use of Natural Semantic Metalanguage in describing the linguistic practices of a specific culture. Natural Semantic Metalanguage consists of semantic primitives, words whose meaning cannot be reduced any further. These semantic primitives, of which there are currently over sixty, provide the tools to illustrate the grammatical structures and to capture the pragmatic meaning within the world’s languages.
This dissertation uses the theoretical and methodological frameworks of Cultural Script Theory to analyse the speech practices of a Thai-American woman, whom I refer to as Lucy, who is English-Thai bilingual and bicultural. Specifically, I examine Lucy’s choice of referring expressions in her construction of yes/no questions in two sets of data. The first set of data is a conversation between Lucy and her mother, a native speaker of Thai. The second set of data is a conversation between Lucy and her mother-in-law, a native speaker of English. The analysis consists of three steps. First, I provide semantic explications of the Thai terms of address แม่ mâe ‘mother’ and แม่ mâe ‘an older woman’. Additionally, I provide semantic explications of the English terms of address mother, ma’am, mrs. last name, miss first name, and first name and the English speech act verbs ask and inquire. Second, I construct Thai cultural scripts for แม่ mâe ‘mother’ and แม่ mâe ‘an older woman’ and Anglo-American cultural scripts for the use of the aforementioned English terms of address. Lastly, I use those explications and cultural scripts to help provide a discourse analysis of the two sets of data.
In this dissertation I hypothesize that the distinctive linguistic behavior of Lucy is explained by her use of two different cultural scripts, one based on Anglo-American cultural speaking practices and the other based on Thai cultural speaking practices.
Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner
Tagged as: (E) ask, (E) female, (E) first name, (E) given names, (E) inquire, (E) last name, (E) ma'am, (E) mâe แม่, (E) male, (E) marriage, (E) miss, (E) mother, (E) Mrs, (S) addressing someone, (S) interactions with female, (S) interactions with mother, (S) interactions with older female, (T) English
Ye, Zhengdao (2016). Stranger and acquaintance in English: Meaning and cultural scripts. In Agnieszka Uberman, & Teodor Hrehovčík (Eds.), Text – sentence – word: Studies in English linguistics: Vol. 2 (pp. 119-130). Rzeszów: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego.
In English, stranger, acquaintance and friend are perhaps the most common and salient terms for describing social relations that are not place or kinship based. What makes these social categories so special and distinctive in English? The question becomes even more intriguing if we consider that in many languages and cultures, human relations in the social sphere revolve around different social categories.
It is the purpose of this paper to seek an answer to the above question. It aims to shed light on the role and function of the English social category words in question from the standpoint of meaning and culture. Given that Anna Wierzbicka has discussed the meaning of the English term friend at great length, this paper will focus on the less analysed stranger and acquaintance. It seeks to articulate the meanings of both, and spell out some of the assumptions underlying the associated interactional values and norms widely shared by Anglophone speakers.
The two social category words analysed in this paper can be considered as co-occurring concepts of politeness in English. This paper shows how the study of the semantics of words of this nature contributes to a better understanding of the “politeness phenomenon” characteristic of Anglophone society.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) (acquaintance), (E) (stranger), (S) interacting with an acquaintance, (S) interaction with strangers, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1976). Mind and body. In James McCawley (Ed.), Syntax and semantics: Vol. 7. Notes from the linguistic underground (pp. 129-157). New York: Academic Press.
Abstract:
The underlying idea of this paper, the first draft of which was written five years before the publication of the author’s Semantic primitives, is that every natural language contains a subdomain that can be used as the language of semantic representation for the natural language in question. This subdomain reflects in an isomorphic way the universal and non-arbitrary lingua mentalis – the language of human thought. Sets of indefinable expressions, found in every natural language, correspond to universal ‘semantic primitives’ (1970s terminology for what is now known as semantic primes) that can be thought of as lexical items of the mental language, or ‘atoms of thought’. Proper semantic representation consists in paraphrase into these indefinable expressions drawn from natural language; no artificial symbols, features, markers, abstract elements, labels, or indices are acceptable.
Tagged as: (E) belong, (E) body, (E) convince, (E) enlarge, (E) force, (E) frightened, (E) have, (E) hope, (E) I, (E) interest, (E) kill, (E) kiss, (E) mad, (E) open, (E) order, (E) own, (E) see, (E) slowly, (E) soul, (E) stroke, (E) surprise, (E) toothache, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Back to definitions: Cognition, semantics, and lexicography. Lexicographica, 8, 146-174.
DOI: 10.1515/9783110244120.146
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 8 (pp. 237-257) of:
Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Abstract:
Different words mean different things; they make different contributions to the communicative acts humans engage in. The contributions made by different words can be compared if we have some standard of measure for describing their communicative potential (i.e., their meaning). As pointed out by Descartes, Pascal, Leibniz, and others, such a common measure can be found in a set of words regarded as conceptual primes. We can single out in any language a group of words in terms of which the meaning (that is, the communicative potential) of all other words in that language can be described and compared. On this view of language, semantic description makes sense and will indeed be illuminating if it is anchored in a set of conceptual primes linked with lexical indefinables, that is, words (or morphemes, or expressions) whose meaning is relatively clear and intelligible, and in terms of which all the other words in the lexicon can be characterized revealingly and accurately.
This paper argues that the distinction between definable and indefinable concepts (and words) must be the cornerstone of any fruitful and linguistically relevant theory of definitions. It shows that meanings can be rigorously described and compared if they are recognized for what they are: unique and culture-specific configurations of universal semantic primitives.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) amae 甘え, (E) courageous, (E) games, (E) gaze, (E) glare, (E) graceful, (E) krasit красить, (E) paint, (E) scrutinize, (E) sensuous, (E) smooth, (E) soft, (E) watch, (T) English
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
Tagged as: (E) amazement, (E) anger, (E) appalled, (E) ashamed, (E) contented, (E) delighted, (E) depressed, (E) despair, (E) disappointment, (E) distressed, (E) embarrassed, (E) excited, (E) frightened, (E) frustration, (E) glücklich, (E) grief, (E) guilt, (E) happy, (E) heureux, (E) humiliated, (E) hurt, (E) indignant, (E) indignation, (E) pleased, (E) pride, (E) relief, (E) remorse, (E) sad, (E) sčastliv, (E) shocked, (E) sorrow, (E) sorry, (E) surprise, (E) triumph, (E) unhappy, (E) upset, (T) English
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
Tagged as: (E) blunder, (E) bold, (E) building, (E) climb, (E) evil, (E) horses, (E) mistake, (E) punish, (E) revenge, (E) right, (E) sin, (E) tempt, (E) wish, (E) wrong, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). ‘Cultural scripts’: A new approach to the study of cross-cultural communication. In Martin Pütz (Ed.), Language contact and language conflict (pp. 69-87). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/z.71.04wei [sic]
According to Edward Hall, writing in 1983, one element lacking in the cross-cultural field was the existence of adequate models that enable us to gain more insight into the processes going on inside people while they are thinking and communicating. It is the purpose of the present paper to develop and validate a model of the kind that Hall is calling for. The model developed here, which can be called the “cultural script model”, offers a framework within which both the differences in the ways of communicating and the underlying differences in the ways of thinking can be fruitfully and rigorously explored. It is shown how cultural scripts can be stated and how they can be justified; this is done with particular reference to Anglo, Japanese, and Polish cultural norms.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) [tag questions], (E) ne ね, (S) affective common ground, (S) agreement, (S) disagreement, (S) frankness, (S) free speech, (S) hurtful truth, (S) I don't think the same, (S) I don't think this, (S) I think this, (S) I want to say something bad about you, (S) impulsiveness, (S) it is bad to think this, (S) positive thinking, (S) saying exactly what one thinks, (S) self-expression, (S) sincerity, (S) spontaneity, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). Emotion, language, and cultural scripts. In Shinobu Kitayama, & Hazel Rose Markus (Eds.), Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence (pp. 133-196). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Abstract:
This chapter explores the relationship between emotion and culture, and between emotion and cognition. It examines the concept of emotion, and argues that it is culture-specific and rooted in the semantics of the English language, as are also the names of specific emotions, such as sadness, joy, anger, or fear. It shows that both the concept of emotion and the language-specific names of particular emotions can be explicated and elucidated in universal semantic primes (NSM).
NSM provides a necessary counterbalance to the uncritical use of English words as conceptual tools in the psychology, philosophy, and sociology of emotions. It offers a suitable basis for description and comparison of not only emotions and emotion concepts but also of cultural attitudes to emotions. Different cultures do indeed encourage different attitudes toward emotions, and these different attitudes are reflected in both the lexicon and the grammar of the languages associated with these cultures.
The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the language-specific character of emotion concepts and grammatical categories; the need for lexical universals as conceptual and descriptive tools; the doctrine of basic emotions and the issue of the discreteness of emotions; and the relationships among emotions, sensations, and feelings. The second part, on cultural scripts (with special reference to the Anglo and Polish cultures), explores attitudes toward emotions characteristic of different cultures (in particular, the Anglo and Polish cultures) and shows how these attitudes can be expressed in the form of cultural scripts formulated by means of universal semantic primes.
Translations:
Into Polish:
Chapter 5 (pp. 163-189) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1999), Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
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Tagged as: (E) (endearments), (E) emotion, (E) enjoy, (E) Gefühl, (E) Gefühle, (E) sensation, (E) sentiment, (E) sentimento, (E) sentimiento, (S) bad things happen to people, (S) compliments, (S) consideration, (S) emotions, (S) feelings, (S) good things can happen to people, (S) I don't think this, (S) I say what I think, (S) I think this, (S) saying what one thinks, (S) self-analysis, (S) self-control, (S) spontaneity, (S) tact, (S) verbal and non-verbal communication, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1994). “Cultural scripts”: A semantic approach to cultural analysis and cross-cultural communication. Pragmatics and Language Learning [Monograph Series], 5, 1-24. PDF (open access)
This paper argues that the ways of speaking characteristic of a given speech community cannot be satisfactorily described (let alone explained) in purely behavioral terms. They constitute a behavioral manifestation of a tacit system of “cultural rules” or “cultural scripts”. To understand a society’s ways of speaking, we have to identify and articulate its implicit “cultural scripts”. Furthermore, it is argued that to be able to do this without ethnocentric bias we need a universal, language-independent perspective; this can be attained if the”rules” in question are stated in terms of lexical universals, that is, universal human concepts lexicalized in all languages of the world.
To illustrate these general propositions, the author shows how cultural scripts can be stated and how they can be justified. This is done with particular reference to Japanese, (White) Anglo-American, and Black American cultural norms.
The cultural scripts advanced in this paper are formulated in a highly constrained Natural Semantic Metalanguage, based on a small set of lexical universals (or near-universals) and a small set of universal (or near-universal) syntactic patterns. It is argued that the use of this metalanguage allows us to portray and compare culture-specific attitudes, assumptions, and norms from a neutral, culture-independent point of view and to do so in terms of simple formulae that are intuitively self-explanatory while at the same time being rigorous and empirically verifiable.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) enryo 遠慮, (S) advocate stance, (S) agreement, (S) apologies, (S) attitudes to emotion, (S) criticism of others, (S) freedom of expression, (S) imposition of opinions, (S) likes and dislikes, (S) non-advocate stance, (S) open-mindedness, (S) opinions of others, (S) resilience, (S) self-assertive behaviour, (S) speech, (S) spokesman stance, (S) toughness, (S) verbal restraint, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1995). Everyday conceptions of emotion: A semantic perspective. In James A. Russell, José-Miguel Fernández-Dols, Antony S. R. Manstead, & J. C. Wellenkamp (Eds.), Everyday conceptions of emotion: An introduction to the psychology, anthropology and linguistics of emotion (pp. 17-47). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
The most important controversy in the study of emotions is that between “universalists” like Spiro and “culturalists” like Lutz. This paper argues that both sides in the debate are defending an important aspect of the truth; but that they both err in taking a partial truth for the whole truth, and that this is where their conflict arises. The important truth that Spiro (among many others) is defending is that of the “psychic unity of humankind”. The important truth that Lutz (among many others) is defending is that “universal human nature” must not be identified, unwittingly, with Anglo culture reflected in the English language.
The emotional intensity of the “Spiro-Lutz” controversy stems no doubt from the fact that both sides feel they are defending an important truth. And so they are. But Spiro errs when he thinks that to defend the “universal human nature” he must defend the universality of concepts such as ‘anger’ or ‘sadness’ (or, for that matter, ’emotion’), and Lutz errs when she thinks that to combat ethnocentrism she must question the validity of concepts such as FEEL or THINK as basic conceptual tools in describing and comparing cultures; and also, when she implies that psychology is doomed to remaining, for ever, an “ethnopsychology” since there are no universals in which a genuinely culture-independent psychology could find a foothold.
Any meaningful comparison presupposes the existence of a tertium comparationis. Different cultures reflect and promote different conceptions of ’emotion’ (that is, of those aspects of human life that are defined with reference to the concept FEEL); but all these different conceptions can all be meaningfully compared in terms of human universals encoded in all human languages.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1995). Emotion and facial expression: A semantic perspective. Culture and Psychology, 1, 227-258. DOI: 10.1177/1354067×9512005
This paper addresses some basic conceptual issues that must be clarified before the real controversies about the nature and universality of emotions and their expression can be clearly stated. To begin with, it argues that interpretative categories such as ‘anger’, ‘fear’, ‘disgust’, ‘sadness’ and ‘enjoyment’ are language-specific and culture-specific, and cannot identify any human universals in the area of emotions (even if such universals did exist). Furthermore, the paper shows how different emotions can be identified in terms of cognitive scenarios associated with them and how cognitive scenarios can be phrased in terms of universal human concepts. It also shows how clearly identifiable “facial components” or configurations of “facial components” (i.e. aspects of facial behaviour) can be linked with cognitive components (and with feelings identifiable through such components). Finally, it puts forward and illustrates a hypothesis about an iconic basis of the “semantics of the human face”.
Throughout the paper, the author tries to demonstrate that the use of conceptual primitives allows us to explore human emotions from a universal, language-independent perspective. Since every language imposes its own classification upon human emotional experience, English words such as anger or sadness are cultural artefacts of the English language, not culture-free analytical tools. On the other hand, conceptual primitives such as GOOD and BAD, or WANT, KNOW, SAY and THINK are not cultural artefacts of the English language but belong to the universal “alphabet of human thoughts” apparently lexicalized in all languages of the world. The author argues that basing our analysis on lexical universals we can free ourselves from the bias of our own language and reach a universal, culture-independent perspective on human cognition in general and on human emotions in particular.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) [facial expressions], (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1997). Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese. New York: Oxford University Press.
Abstract:
This book develops the dual themes that languages can differ widely in their vocabularies, and are sensitive indices to the cultures to which they belong. The author seeks to demonstrate that every language has key concepts, expressed in (cultural) key words, which reflect the core values of a given culture. She shows that cultures can be revealingly studied, compared, and explained to outsiders through their key concepts, and that NSM provides the analytical framework necessary for this purpose. The book demonstrates that cultural patterns can be studied in a verifiable, rigorous, and non-speculative way, on the basis of empirical evidence and in a coherent theoretical framework.
Table of contents:
- Introduction
- Lexicon as a key to ethno-sociology and cultural psychology: Patterns of “friendship” across cultures
- Lexicon as a key to ethno-philosophy, history, and politics: “Freedom” in Latin, English, Russian, and Polish
- Lexicon as a key to history, nation, and society: “Homeland” and “fatherland” in German, Polish, and Russian
- Australian key words and core cultural values
- Japanese key words and core cultural values
Translations:
Into Polish:
(Chapter 3 only) Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Wierzbicka, Anna (2007). Słowa klucze: Różne języki – różne kultury. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.
Into Russian (Chapters 1, 2 and 3 only):
Chapters 7 (pp. 263-305), 8 (pp. 306-433) and 9 (pp. 434-484) of Вежбицкая, Анна (1999), Семантические универсалии и описание языков [Semantic universals and the description of languages]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].
Вежбицкая, Анна (2001). Понимание культур через посредство ключевых слов. Москва [Moscow]: Языки славянской культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].
Into Japanese:
アンナ・ヴィエルジュビツカ著 [Anna Wierzbicka] (2009). キーワードによる異文化理解: 英語・ロシア語・ポーランド語・ 日本語の場合 . 東京 [Tokyo]: 而立書房 [Jiritsu Shobō].
More information:
Chapter 4 builds on: Lexicon as a key to history, culture, and society: “Homeland” and “fatherland” in German, Polish and Russian (1995)
Chapter 5, section 2 builds on: Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction (1991), chapter 5
Chapter 5, section 3 builds on: Australian b-words (bloody, bastard, bugger, bullshit): An expression of Australian culture and national character (1992)
Chapter 6 builds on: Japanese key words and core cultural values (1991)
Reviewed by:
Peeters, Bert (2000). Word, 51(3), 443-449. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2000.11432505 / Open access
This review includes several suggestions for improvements to the explications in the book, as well as a revised explication of the Russian word друг drug.
Rating:
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The tags mentioned below are limited to those not listed in work on which this book is based.
Tagged as: (E) colleagues, (E) drug друг, (E) family, (E) freedom, (E) friend, (E) koledzy, (E) libertas, (E) liberty, (E) mate, (E) omoiyari 思いやり, (E) podruga подруга, (E) prijatel' приятель, (E) przyjaciel, (E) rodnye родные, (E) rodzina, (E) svoboda свобода, (E) tovarišč, (E) volja воля, (E) wolność, (E) znajomi, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (1998). Anchoring linguistic typology in universal semantic primes. Linguistic Typology, 2(2), 141-194. DOI: 10.1515/lity.1998.2.2.141
In essence, “grammar is one and the same in all languages”, but to establish what this universal grammar really looks like we have to investigate and compare many diverse languages, and for this we need a powerful and universally applicable metalanguage based on empirically established lexico-grammatical universals. The rough and incomplete outline of universal grammar sketched in this paper constitutes both a summary of the results arrived at by theoretical and empirical work over more than three decades (in the so-called “NSM” framework) and a program for further investigations. The author tries to show that it is possible to base investigations of universal grammar and typology on a truly universal, non-technical, non-arbitrary and intuitively intelligible tertium comparationis, and thus give it a secure and reliable foundation.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) [grammatical] patient, (E) information questions, (E) kivat', (E) opustit', (E) polar questions, (E) that [relative pronoun], (E) when, (E) where, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna, & Harkins, Jean (2001). Introduction. In Jean Harkins, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.) (2001), Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective (pp. 1-34). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110880168.1
Abstract:
The purpose of the crosslinguistic studies presented in this volume is to demonstrate how the tools of linguistic analysis can be applied to produce more accurate descriptions of the meanings of emotion words and, more generally, ways of speaking about emotions in different languages. Such analyses of linguistic meaning not only complement findings from other approaches to the study of emotions, but help to resolve methodological problems that arise when these other approaches have to deal with data from different languages. Before proceeding to the language-specific studies, we draw readers’ attention to the relevance of language in the study of human emotions, and give some background to the approaches to analysing language data that are used in these studies.
By presenting detailed semantic descriptions of culturally-situated meanings of culturally salient words used in the “emotion talk” in different cultures, we can offer glimpses into other people’s emotional lives – without
imposing on those lives a perspective derived from the vocabulary and other resources of our own native language. Since the descriptions presented here are phrased in universal, that is, shared, concepts, they can be
both faithful to the perspective of the speaker whose emotions we purport to be talking about, and intelligible to others. (These others include scholars, who often don’t seem to realise that they too are speakers of another
language, with their own spectacles, tinted by their own native language.) We can combine the insiders’ point of view with intelligibility to outsiders.
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Tagged as: (E) delighted, (E) fear, (E) hope, (E) pleased, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Philosophy and discourse: The rise of “really” and the fall of “truly”. Cahiers de praxématique, 38, 85-112. DOI: 10.4000/praxematique.574
Does it matter that speakers of English have started to use more and more the word really and less and less the word truly? Does it matter that the word really has become very widely used in English – much more so than truly ever was? And does it matter that the references to “truth” in conversation appear to have become much less common than they used to be?
This paper argues that these things are indeed highly significant, that really does not mean the same as truly, and that the phenomenal rise of really throws a great deal of light on Anglo culture – both in a historical and comparative perspective.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) (tag question), (E) evidence, (E) fact, (E) real, (E) true, (E) truly, (S) really, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Right and wrong: From philosophy to everyday discourse. Discourse Studies, 4(2), 225-252. DOI: 10.1177/14614456020040020601
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 3 (pp. 61-102) of:
Wierzbicka, Anna (2006). English: Meaning and culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
One of the most interesting phenomena in the history of the English language is the remarkable rise of the word right, in its many interrelated senses and uses. This article tries to trace the changes in the meaning and use of this word, as well as the rise of new conversational routines based on right, and raises questions about the cultural underpinnings of these semantic and pragmatic developments. It explores the hypothesis that the “discourse of truth” declined in English over the centuries; that the use of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ as parallel concepts (and opposites) increased; and it notes that the use of right as an adjective increased enormously in relation to the use of true.
Originally, right meant ‘straight’, as in a right line (straight line). Figuratively, perhaps, this right in the sense ‘straight’ was also used in an evaluative sense: ‘good’, with an additional component building on the geometrical image: ‘clearly good’. Spoken of somebody else’s words, right was linked (implicitly or explicitly) with ‘true’. However, in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, right appears to have begun to be used more and more with reference to thinking rather than speaking. The association of right with thinking seems to have spread in parallel with a contrastive use of right and wrong – a trend apparently encouraged by the influence of the Reformation, especially within its Calvinist wing. Another interesting development is that, over the last two centuries or so, the discourse of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ appears to have found a competitor in a discourse of ‘cooperation’ and mutual concessions. Judging by both the frequency and range of its use, the word right flourished in this atmosphere, whereas wrong was increasingly left behind.
This article traces the transition from the Shakespearean response “Right.”, described by the OED as ‘you are right; you speak well’, to the present-day “Right.” of non-committal acknowledgement and it links the developments in semantics and discourse patterns with historical phenomena such as Puritanism, British empiricism, the Enlightenment and the growth of democracy.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) right, (S) disagreement, (S) freedom of expression, (S) opinions, (S) truth and untruth, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). Australian cultural scripts – bloody revisited. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(9), 1167-1209. DOI: 10.1016/S0378-2166(01)00023-6
This paper focusses on ‘‘the great Australian adjective’’ bloody and it shows that far from being meaningless, the humble bloody is packed with meaning; and that by unpacking this meaning we can throw a good deal of light on traditional Australian attitudes and values. It argues that the use of bloody furnishes an important clue to both the changes and continuity in Australian culture, society, and speech and also offers us a vantage point from which to investigate a whole network of Australian attitudes and values. Furthermore, the paper shows that the Australian use of bloody also illuminates some important theoretical issues, it demonstrates that frequently used and apparently ‘‘bleached’’ discourse markers do in fact have their own precise meaning, and that this meaning can be revealed by means of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), based on empirically established universal human concepts. It also shows that once the precise meaning of such discourse markers is accurately portrayed, it can provide important clues to the values, attitudes, and modes of interaction characteristic of a given society or speech community.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) battler, (E) bloody, (E) Fuck!, (E) fucking, (E) sarcasm, (S) anti-whinging, (S) being like others, (S) defiance / rebelliousness / larrikinism, (S) importance of sticking to the facts, (S) not abandoning a mate, (S) not being better than others, (S) spirit of defiance and rejection of social conventions, (S) use of sarcasm, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (2002). English causative constructions in an ethnosyntactic perspective: Focusing on LET. In Nick Enfield (Ed.), Ethnosyntax (pp. 162-203). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199266500.003.0008
A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 6 (pp. 171-203) of:
Wierzbicka, Anna (2006). English: Meaning and culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
This chapter focuses on one area of ‘cultural elaboration’ in grammar, namely, on the elaboration of causal relations in modern English. Topics discussed include causation and patterns of social interaction, Natural Semantic Metalanguage as a tool for studying ethnosyntax, the meaning of causatives in a cross-linguistic perspective, German lassen constructions, and English let constructions, and comparison of Russian and German.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) lassen, (E) let, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (2005). Empirical universals of language as a basis for the study of other human universals and as a tool for exploring cross-cultural differences. Ethos, 33(2), 256-291.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.2005.33.2.256
Abstract:
Genuine universals of culture or cognition can only be formulated if we have at our disposal a universal language, and similarly, only a universal language can allow us to formulate generalizations about different cultures from a culture-independent point of view. In this article, it is argued that a universal, “culture-free” language suitable both for the study of human universals and the exploration of cultural differences, can be built on the basis of empirical universals of language. Furthermore, it is claimed that such a language has already been largely constructed, thus bringing the notion of a “universal language” from the realm of utopia to the realm of everyday reality. The article shows that this language (NSM) can be used to describe and explore both universal and culture-specific forms of human thinking, and in particular, to identify and compare personhood models across languages and cultures.
Translations:
Into French (with some cuts):
Wierzbicka, Anna (2006). Les universaux empiriques du langage: tremplin pour l’étude d’autres universaux humains et outil dans l’exploration de différences transculturelles. Linx, 54, 151-179.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/linx.517 / Open access
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tagged as: (E) duša душа, (E) human being, (E) kokoro 心, (E) maum 몸, (E) mind, (E) unfair, (T) English
Wierzbicka, Anna (2006). English: Meaning and culture. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174748.001.0001
It is widely accepted that English is the first truly global language and lingua franca. Its dominance has even led to its use and adaptation by local communities for their own purposes and needs. One might see English in this context as being simply a neutral, universal vehicle for the expression of local thoughts and ideas. In fact, English words and phrases have embedded in them a wealth of cultural baggage that is invisible to most native speakers.
Anna Wierzbicka, a distinguished linguist known for her theories of semantics, has written the first book that connects the English language with what she terms “Anglo” culture. Wierzbicka points out that language and culture are not just interconnected, but inseparable. This is evident to non-speakers trying to learn puzzling English expressions. She uses original research to investigate the “universe of meaning” within the English language (both grammar and vocabulary) and places it in historical and geographical perspective. For example, she looks at the history of the terms “right” and “wrong” and how with the influence of the Reformation “right” came to mean “correct.” She examines the ideas of “fairness” and “reasonableness” and shows that, far from being cultural universals, they are in fact unique creations of modern English.
Table of contents
PART I MEANING, HISTORY, AND CULTURE
1. English as a cultural universe
2. Anglo cultural scripts seen through Middle Eastern eyes
PART II ENGLISH WORDS
3. The story of RIGHT and WRONG and its cultural implications
4. Being REASONABLE: A key Anglo value and its cultural roots
5. Being FAIR: Another key Anglo value and its cultural underpinnings
PART III ANGLO CULTURE REFLECTED IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR
6. The English causatives: Causation and interpersonal relations
7. I THINK: The rise of epistemic phrases in Modern English
8. PROBABLY: English epistemic adverbs and their cultural significance
PART IV CONCLUSION
9. The “cultural baggage” of English and its significance in the world at large
Chapter 3 builds on: Right and wrong: From philosophy to everyday discourse” (2002)
Chapter 6 builds on: English causative constructions in an ethnosyntactic perspective: Focusing on LET (2002)
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
Tags listed below are in addition to those listed at the end of the entries for the earlier work on which this book builds.
Tagged as: (E) (bare imperative), (E) (tag question), (E) (whimperative), (E) allegedly, (E) apparently, (E) assume, (E) believe, (E) believe (+ clause), (E) believe that, (E) bet, (E) certainly, (E) clearly, (E) conceivably, (E) doubt, (E) evidently, (E) expect, (E) facts, (E) fair, (E) find, (E) force (someone to do somthing), (E) gather (+ clause), (E) get (someone to do something), (E) guess (+ clause), (E) have (someone do something), (E) imagine, (E) indeed, (E) justice, (E) lie, (E) likely, (E) make (someone do something), (E) not fair, (E) obviously, (E) of course, (E) possibly, (E) presumably, (E) presume, (E) presume (+ clause), (E) probable, (E) probably, (E) reasonable, (E) reportedly, (E) sense, (E) suppose (+ clause), (E) supposedly, (E) surely, (E) suspect, (E) take it, (E) think (+ clause), (E) understand, (E) undoubtedly, (E) unreasonable, (S) accuracy, (S) agreement, (S) bare imperatives, (S) critical thinking, (S) demands, (S) directives, (S) emotions, (S) exaggeration, (S) expectations, (S) factuality, (S) good vs. bad, (S) I think vs I know, (S) justification, (S) literal meaning, (S) non-exaggeration, (S) opinions, (S) personal autonomy, (S) pressure, (S) silence, (S) think first, (T) English
