Peeters, Bert (2004). “Thou shalt not be a tall poppy”: describing an Australian communicative (and behavioral) norm. Intercultural pragmatics, 1, 71-92.
(2004) French – Verbs (COMMENCER)
Peeters, Bert (2004). Commencer: la suite, mais pas encore la fin [Commencer: The next, but not the final, installment]. Journal of French language studies, 14(2), 149-168. DOI:10.1017/S0959269504001620
(2008) English, French – Greetings
Peeters, Bert (2008). Ça va? vs How are you? Remarques ethnophraséologiques [Ça va? vs How are you? Ethnophraseological notes]. Synergies-RUI, 1, 101-118.
(2013) French – Cultural values (MÉFIANCE)
Peeters, Bert (2013). Ah méfiance, quand tu tiens la France… Cahiers de praxématique, 60. DOI: 10.4000/praxematique.3872
(2014) French – Cultural key phrases (ON VA S’ARRANGER/ON S’ARRANGERA)
Peeters, Bert (2014). On va s’arranger/On s’arrangera: étude ethnophraséologique de deux actes (généralement) rassurants [On va s’arranger/On s’arrangera: An ethnophraseological study of two (generally) reassuring speech acts]. Scolia, 28, 129-149.
(2015) French – Cultural values (DÉBROUILLE)
Peeters, Bert (2015). La France de la débrouille: étude ethnoaxiologique d’une valeur culturelle hypothétique. RSP (Revue de sémantique et pragmatique), 37, 103-122.
(2015) French – Cultural key metaphors (CAFÉ DU COMMERCE)
Peeters, Bert (2015). Bienvenue au café du Commerce: propos ethnorhétoriques. Publif@rum, 23. http://www.publifarum.farum.it/ezine_articles.php?art_id=315.
(2015) English (Australia) – TALL POPPY
Peeters, Bert (2015). Tall poppies in the land down under: An applied ethnolinguistic approach. International Journal of Language and Culture, 2(2), 219-243. DOI:10.1075/ijolc.2.2.04pee
(1993) Conceptual axiology and axiological fields
Peeters, Bert (1993). Conceptual axiology and axiological fields. In Peter Rolf Lutzeier (Ed.), Studien zur Wortfeldtheorie/Studies in lexical field theory (pp. 175-183). Tübingen: Niemeyer.
(1994) French – NSM primes
Peeters, Bert (1994). Semantic and lexical universals in French. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Semantic and lexical universals: Theory and empirical findings (pp. 423-442). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2000) English, French – Discourse management
Peeters, Bert (2000). “S’engager” vs “to show restraint”: Linguistic and cultural relativity in discourse management. In Susanne Niemeier, & René Dirven (Eds.), Evidence for linguistic relativity (pp. 193-222). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/cilt.198.13pee
If ways of speaking are determined by the cultural values of a speech community, then it must be possible to find examples of communicative patterns reflecting such values. Taking this hypothesis as a starting point, the author analyses expressions supporting the existence of opposing cultural values in French and (Australian) English.
The French ideal is one of “engagement” in the interest of defending individual expression from the pressures of social constraint, whereas the Anglo-Saxon ideal is “not to commit oneself” in the interest of avoiding the risks associated with erroneous opinions and getting involved in other people’s business. Evidence for these orientations at the cultural level is found in each culture in a series of common evaluative expressions deployed by each group with respect to engagement and commitment. These differences in communicative ideology are then related to actual communicative norms such as patterns of interruption and to observed patterns of intercultural misunderstanding.
An earlier version of this chapter was published in 1998 and reissued (unchanged) in 2006 in the LAUD Working Papers, Series A, General and Theoretical Papers, 451. PDF (open access)
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2002) French – Verbs (COMMENCER)
Peeters, Bert (2002). Les constructions du type commencer un livre: état de la question et nouvelles perspectives [Constructions of the type commencer un livre: state of the art and new perspectives]. In Dominique Lagorgette, & Pierre Larrivée (Eds.), Représentations du sens linguistique (pp. 167-186). München: Lincom Europa.
(2004) English (Australia) – TALL POPPY
Peeters, Bert (2004). Tall poppy stuff. In B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk & A. Kwiatkowska (Eds.), Imagery in language: Festschrift in honour of Professor Ronald W. Langacker (pp. 613-623). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
(2005) French – Verbs (COMMENCER)
Peeters, Bert (2005). Commencer à + infinitif: métonymie intégrée et piste métaphorique [Commencer à + infinitive: Integrated metonymy and the metaphorical pathway]. In Hava Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot, & Nicole Le Querler (Eds.), Les périphrases verbales (pp. 381-396). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2006) French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian – NSM primes, NSM syntax
Peeters, Bert; Junker, Marie-Odile; Travis, Catherine; Farrell, Patrick; Perini-Santos, Pablo; & Maher, Brigitte (2006). Natural Semantic Metalanguage exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Substantives; determiners; quantifiers. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages (pp. 41-77). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.81.09pee
Peeters, Bert; Junker, Marie-Odile; Travis, Catherine; Farrell, Patrick; Perini-Santos, Pablo; & Maher, Brigitte (2006). NSM exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Evaluators and descriptors; mental predicates. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages (pp. 79-109). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.81.10pee
Peeters, Bert; Junker, Marie-Odile; Farrell, Patrick; Perini-Santos, Pablo; & Maher, Brigitte (2006). NSM exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Speech; actions, events and movement; existence and possession; life and death. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages (pp. 111-136). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.81.11pee
Peeters, Bert; Junker, Marie-Odile; Farrell, Patrick; Perini-Santos, Pablo; & Maher, Brigitte (2006). NSM exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Time and space. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages (pp. 137-175). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.81.12pee
Peeters, Bert; Junker, Marie-Odile; Farrell, Patrick; Perini-Santos, Pablo; & Maher, Brigitte (2006). NSM exponents and universal grammar in Romance: Logical concepts; intensifier and augmentor; taxonomy and partonomy; similarity. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages (pp. 177-204). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.81.13pee
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2006) Romance languages – NSM primes, NSM syntax
Peeters, Bert (2006). Scope and contents of this volume. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages (pp. 7-12). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2007) English (Australia) – Perceptions of the week-end
Peeters, Bert (2007). Australian perceptions of the weekend: Evidence from collocations and elsewhere. In Paul Skandera (Ed.), Phraseology and culture in English (pp. 79-107). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110197860.79
(2010) Natural Semantic Metalanguage
Peeters, Bert (2010). La métalangue sémantique naturelle: acquis et défis [Natural Semantic Metalanguage: achievements and challenges]. In Jacques François (Ed.), Grandes voies et chemins de traverse de la sémantique cognitive (pp. 75-101). Leuven: Peeters.
Written in French.
For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach, and of those who, on the basis of superficial readings, may have reached the hasty conclusion that the Wierzbickian approach had nothing to offer them, this article provides an overview that is as systematic as possible: it leaves out nothing that is essential, either with respect to what has already been achieved (the «achievements»), or with respect to what remains to be done (the «challenges»). In reality, the NSM approach provides all those who do not remain indifferent to the desire to be understood, as much by scholars as by untrained readers, with a way to overcome the «crossing the creek» syndrome referred to by Georges Kleiber (2001: 3): «This syndrome, noted for the first time in the Middle Ages among the Oelenberg monks (in Reiningue, near Mulhouse) is well-known: sufferers keep hopping from one rock onto another, without ever falling into the water, but they forget they need to cross the river!» The Natural Semantic Metalanguage is shown to be at once unique and multi-faceted, with the English and French versions being used to briefly present its lexicon and grammar. Before moving on to the challenges, the notions of «cultural script» and «culture» are briefly dealt with. We particularly insist on some of the most recent tasks NSM practitioners have embarked on. These include the formulation of a typology of pathways enabling one to deal more effectively with the issue of language and cultural values, the compilation of the list of semantic molecules to be used to increase the readability of semantic explications, and the elaboration of «semantic templates» for the explication of words belonging to specific semantic categories such as emotions, physical contact verbs, speech act verbs etc.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
(2011) English, French – False friends
Peeters, Bert (2011). Les faux amis, une question de degré: l’apport de la métalangue sémantique naturelle [False friends, a matter of degree: the NSM contribution]. In Fabienne Baider, E. Lamprou, & M. Monville-Burston (Eds.), La marque en lexicographie: états présents, voies d’avenir (pp. 87-109). Limoges: Lambert-Lucas.
(2012) Intercultural research served with an NSM sauce
Peeters, Bert (2012). L’interculturel servi à la sauce MSN, ou À quoi sert la métalangue sémantique naturelle? [Intercultural research served with an NSM sauce, or: what is NSM good for?]. In Nathalie Auger, Christine Béal & Françoise Demougin (Eds.), Interactions et interculturalité: variété des corpus et des approches (pp. 149-180). Bern: Peter Lang.
