Peeters, Bert (Ed.) (2006). Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DOI: 10.1075/slcs.81
Abstract:
This volume is part of a research program that started with the publication, in 1972, of Wierzbicka’s groundbreaking work on Semantic Primitives. The first within the program to focus on a number of typologically similar languages, it proposes French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian versions of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Repetition is avoided through teamwork: a number of authors working on the languages under examination have had equal input in a set of five chapters dealing with distinct parts of the metalanguage. Some of the findings presented here invite us to have a fresh look at what has already been achieved, and to amend some of the working hypotheses of the NSM approach accordingly. The volume also contains six case studies (detailed in the table of contents below).
Table of contents:
Preface (Anna Wierzbicka)
Scope and contents of this volume (Bert Peeters)
The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach: An overview with reference to the most important Romance languages (Cliff Goddard and Bert Peeters)
Part 1: Romance versions of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage
Natural Semantic Metalanguage exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Substantives; determines; quantifiers (Bert Peeters, Marie-Odile Junker, Catherine E. Travis, Patrick Farrell, Pedro Perini-Santos and Brigid Maher)
Natural Semantic Metalanguage exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Evaluators and descriptors; mental predicates (Bert Peeters, Marie-Odile Junker, Catherine E. Travis, Patrick Farrell, Pedro Perini-Santos and Brigid Maher)
Natural Semantic Metalanguage exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Speech; actions, events and movement; existence and possession; life and death (Bert Peeters, Marie-Odile Junker, Patrick Farrell, Pedro Perini-Santos and Brigid Maher)
Natural Semantic Metalanguage exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Time and space (Bert Peeters, Marie-Odile Junker, Patrick Farrell, Pedro Perini-Santos and Brigid Maher)
Natural Semantic Metalanguage exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Logical concepts; intensifier and augmentor; taxonomy and partonomy; similarity (Bert Peeters, Marie-Odile Junker, Patrick Farrell, Pedro Perini-Santos and Brigid Maher)
Part 2: The Natural Semantic Metalanguage applied
Sfogarsi: A semantic analysis of an Italian speech routine and its underlying cultural values (Brigid Maher)
Portuguese saudade and other emotions of absence and longing (Patrick Farrell)
The development of a key word: The deictic field of Spanish crisis (Deborah DuBartell)
The French connector certes : A Natural Semantic Metalanguage interpretation (Monique A. Burston)
Francamente, el rojo te sienta fatal : Semantics and pragmatics of some expressions of sincerity in present-day Spanish (Mónica Aznárez Mauleón and Ramón González Ruiz)
Towards a description of Spanish and Italian diminutives within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage framework (Angela Bartens and Niclas Sandström)
More information:
Each chapter has its own entry, where additional information is provided.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
