Peeters, Bert (Ed.) (2019). Heart- and soul-like constructs across languages, cultures, and epochs. New York: Routledge.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315180670
Abstract:
All languages and cultures appear to have one or more ‘mind-like’ constructs that supplement the human body. Linguistic evidence suggests they all have a word for someone, and another word for body, but that does not mean that whatever else makes up a human being (i.e. someone) apart from the body is the same everywhere. Nonetheless, the (Anglo) mind is often reified and thought of in universal terms. This volume adds to the literature that denounces such reification. It looks at Japanese, Longgu (an Oceanic language), Thai, and Old Norse-Icelandic, spelling out, in NSM, how the ‘mind-like’ constructs in these languages differ from the Anglo mind.
Table of contents:
- Delving into heart- and soul-like constructs: Describing EPCs in NSM (Bert Peeters)
- Inochi and tamashii: Incursions into Japanese ethnopsychology (Yuko Asano-Cavanagh)
- Longgu: Conceptualizing the human person from the inside out (Deborah Hill)
- Tracing the Thai ‘heart’: The semantics of a Thai ethnopsychological construct (Chavalin Svetanant)
- Exploring Old Norse-Icelandic personhood constructs with the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (Colin Mackenzie)
Each chapter has its own entry, where additional information is provided.
Reviewed by:
Marini, Maria Giulia (2019). thepolyphony.org
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
