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(1990) Colours and vision

Wierzbicka, Anna (1990). The meaning of color terms: Semantics, culture, and cognition. Cognitive Linguistics, 1(1), 99-150.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.1990.1.1.99

Abstract:

It has been claimed that the semantics of basic colour terms in all languages directly reflects the existence of pan-human neural response categories. But how can language be “directly” linked to neural responses? Language reflects conceptualizations, not the neural representation of colour in the pathways between the eye and brain. The link between the neural representation of colour and the linguistic representation of colour can only be indirect. The way leads via concepts. Sense data are “private” (even if they are rooted in pan-human neural responses), whereas concepts can be shared. To be able to talk with others about one’s private sense data, one must be able to translate them first into communicable concepts.

This paper argues against the current accounts of colour semantics and proposes a new interpretation of the evolutionary sequence discovered by Berlin and Kay. Although our colour sensations occur in our brains, not in the world outside, and their nature is probably determined to a large extent by our human biology (which links us, in some measure, with other primates), to be able to communicate about these sensations, we project them onto something in our shared environment. The author argues that colour concepts are anchored in certain “universals of human experience”, and that these universals can be identified, roughly speaking, as day and night, fire, the sun, vegetation, the sky, and the ground.

Translations:

Into Polish:

Chapter 11 (pp. 405-450) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1999), Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

More information:

A more recent publication building on this one is:

Chapter 10 (pp. 287-334) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1996), Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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(1990) Polish – Antitotalitarian language

Wierzbicka, Anna (1990). Antitotalitarian language in Poland: Some mechanisms of linguistic self-defense. Language in Society, 19, 1-59. DOI: 10.1017/S004740450001410X

This article explores the concept of political diglossia, a phenomenon arising in totalitarian or semitotalitarian countries, where the language of official propaganda gives rise to its opposite: the unofficial, underground language of antipropaganda. The author studies one semantic domain – the colloquial designations of the political police and security forces in contemporary Poland – and compares them with the official designations. The semantics of the relevant words and expressions is studied in great detail so that the social attitudes encoded in them can be revealed and rigorously compared. To achieve this, the author relies on the Natural Semantic Metalanguage that she has developed over the
last two decades, which has already been applied in the study of many other semantic domains, in many different languages. The social and political attitudes encoded in the Polish expressions referring to the security apparatus are discussed against the background of Poland’s history. The author shows that language is not only the best “mirror of mind” (Leibniz) and “mirror of culture” and “guide to social reality” (Sapir), but also a mirror of history and politics.

 

 

(1990) Emotions [SPECIAL ISSUE]

Wierzbicka, Anna (Ed.) (1990). The semantics of emotions. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 10(2) (Special issue).

Table of contents (NSM-based studies only):

The grammatical packaging of experiencers in Ewe: A study in the semantics of syntax (Felix Ameka)
Experiential constructions in Mangap‐Mbula (Robert D. Bugenhagen)
Shame/embarrassment in English and Danish (Anne Dineen)
The lexical semantics of “good feelings” in Yankunytjatjara (Cliff Goddard)
Shame and shyness in the aboriginal classroom: A case for “practical semantics” (Jean Harkins)
The semantics of emotions: Fear and its relatives in English (Anna Wierzbicka)

Each paper has its own entry, where additional information is provided.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(1991) Definitions

Wierzbicka, Anna (1991). Ostensive definitions and verbal definitions: Innate conceptual primitives and the acquisition of concepts. In Maciej Grochowski, & Daniel Weiss (Eds.), Words are physicians for an ailing mind (pp. 467-480). Munich: Otto Sagner.

A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 7 (pp. 211-233) of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(1992) Lexical universals and universals of grammar

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Lexical universals and universals of grammar. In Michel Kefer, & Johan van der Auwera (Eds.), Meaning and grammar: Cross-linguistic perspectives (pp. 383-415). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

In a sense, everything we say in this chapter is problematic, since in the approach sketched here the hypothetical “universal grammar” is a function of the hypothetical “universal lexicon” , and since this hypothetical “universal lexicon” is still in a state of flux, the grammar developed here is doubly hypothetical, and it must remain for some time in a state of “super-flux”.

Nonetheless, it is important, I believe, that strong substantive hypotheses of the kind put forward here should be formulated, because they give a direction to empirical investigations, which can be expected to lead, in turn, to the necessary revisions of the hypotheses themselves.

(1991) NSM primes and substitutability

Wierzbicka, Anna (1991). Semantic complexity: Conceptual primitives and the principle of substitutability. Theoretical Linguistics, 17, 75-97. DOI: 10.1515/thli.1991.17.1-3.75

A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 7 (pp. 211-233) of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

This paper argues that the failures of modern semantics have been caused, largely, by an unrealistic idea of the nature of semantic complexity, reflected in popular analyses such as “to kill equals ‘to cause to die'”. In fact, the semantic structure of an ordinary human sentence may be about as simple as the structure of a galaxy or of an atom. If we don’t recognize this complexity and don’t accept the challenge of elucidating it, we will never be able to fulfil the central task of linguistics: that of discovering, and describing, how meanings are encoded in the languages of the world; and of doing so not on the level of programmatic declarations but on the level of empirical detail.

The author argues that to analyze meanings in their complexity we must be able to show how complex meanings are derived from simple ones; semantic analysis requires, therefore, a set of “ultimate simples”, that is, of universal conceptual primitives. In addition to such a set, however, we must also know how these primitives are combined into larger semantic units. The author explores both issues (the set of the ultimate simples and the nature of their “grammar”), and discusses the light they throw on the problem of semantic complexity.

 

(1991) Semantics vs. pragmatics

Wierzbicka, Anna (1991). *Semantics vs. pragmatics. In V. Prakasam (Ed.), Encyclopaedic dictionary of linguistic terminology (pp. 204-209). Punjabi University.

(1991) Japanese – Cultural key words

Wierzbicka, Anna (1991). Japanese key words and core cultural values. Language in Society, 20(3), 333-385.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500016535

Abstract:

Every language has its own key words, which reflect the core values of the culture. Consequently, cultures can be revealingly studied, compared, and explained to outsiders through their key words. However, to be able to study, compare, and explain cultures in terms of their key words, we need a culture-independent analytical framework. A framework of this kind is provided by the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. This paper explores and analyses six Japanese concepts widely regarded as being almost more than any others culture-specific and culturally revealing – 甘え amae, 遠慮 enryo, 和 wa, 恩 on, 義理 giri, and 精神 seishin – and shows how the use of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage helps to make these concepts clear, affording better insight into Japanese culture and society.

More information:

A more recent publication building on this one is:

Chapter 6 (pp. 235-280) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1997), Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , , , , , , , ,

(1991) Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction [BOOK]

Wierzbicka, Anna (1991). Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Reissued, with a new preface, as:

Wierzbicka, Anna (2003). Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

DOI (2003): https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110220964

Abstract:

This book challenges approaches to human interaction that are based on supposedly universal maxims of conversation and principles of politeness, which fly in the face of reality as experienced by millions of people – refugees, immigrants, cross-cultural families, and so on. By contrast to such approaches, which are of no use in cross-cultural communication and education, this book is both theoretical and practical. It shows that in different societies, norms of human interaction are different and reflect different cultural attitudes and values. It offers a framework within which different cultural norms and different ways of speaking can be effectively explored, explained, and taught.

The book discusses data from a wide range of languages, including English, Italian, Russian, Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, and Walmatjari. It shows that the meanings expressed in human interaction and the different cultural rules (called ‘cultural scripts’ in more recent work) prevailing in different speech communities can be described and compared in a way that is clear, simple, rigorous, and free of ethnocentric bias. It relies on NSM to do so, and argues that the latter can be used as a basis for teaching successful cross-cultural communication and education, including the teaching of languages in a cultural context.

Table of contents:

  1. Introduction: Semantics and pragmatics
  2. Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts
  3. Cross-cultural pragmatics and different cultural values
  4. Describing conversational routines
  5. Speech acts and speech genres across languages and cultures
  6. The semantics of illocutionary forces
  7. Italian reduplication: Its meaning and its cultural significance
  8. Interjections across cultures
  9. Particles and illocutionary meanings
  10. Boys will be boys: Even truisms are culture-specific
  11. Conclusion: Semantics as a key to cross-cultural pragmatics

More information:

Chapter 2 builds on: Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts: Polish vs. English (1985)

Chapter 5 builds on: A semantic metalanguage for a crosscultural comparison of speech acts and speech genres (1985); a more recent publication building on this chapter is chapter 5 (pp. 198-234) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1997), Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese. New York: Oxford University Press.

Chapter 6 builds on: A semantic metalanguage for the description and comparison of illocutionary meanings (1986)

Chapter 7 builds on: Italian reduplication: Cross-cultural pragmatics and illocutionary semantics (1986)

Chapter 8 builds on: The semantics of interjections (1992)

Chapter 9 builds on: Precision in vagueness: The semantics of English ‘approximatives’ (1986); The semantics of quantitative particles in Polish and in English (1986)

Chapter 10 builds on: Boys will be boys: ‘Radical semantics’ vs. ‘radical pragmatics’ (1987)

Rating:


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.

See also: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(1992) Definitions

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

See also: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(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

See also: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(1992) English (Australia) – Cultural key words

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Australian b-words (bloody, bastard, bugger, bullshit): An expression of Australian culture and national character. In André Clas (Ed.), Le mot, les mots, les bons mots/Word, words, witty words (pp. 21-38). Montréal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal.

Abstract:

The claim made in this paper is not that the Australian ‘b-words’ (bastard, bloody, bugger, and bullshit) are not used outside Australia. They are. But in Australia, they are part of everyday language and play a role that is truly unique. Elsewhere, they are more or less marginal. In Australia, they are central — in everyday life and even in public discourse (especially on the political scene). They are felt to be an important means of self-expression, self-identification, and effective communication with others.

Although the frequency of b-words in Australian speech is undoubtedly unique, and although it has often been commented on by visitors from other parts of the English-speaking world, it is, above all, in the meaning of these words, as they are used in Australia, that the Australians have managed to express something of their own cultural identity. Strictly speaking, then, it is not the b-words themselves but the meanings encapsulated in them that are characteristically Australian.

More information:

A more recent publication building on this one is:

Chapter 5 (pp. 198-234) of Wierzbicka, Anna (1997), Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese. New York: Oxford University Press.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , , ,

(1992) Semantic primes

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). *The search for universal semantic primitives. In Martin Pütz (Ed.), Thirty years of linguistic evolution (pp. 215-242). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/z.61.20wie

(1992) Semantic primes and semantic fields

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Semantic primitives and semantic fields. In Adrienne Lehrer, & Eva Feder Kittay (Eds.), Frames, fields, and contrasts: New essays in semantic and lexical organization (pp. 209-227). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.

A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 5 (pp. 170-183) of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The entire Lehrer and Kittay collection was transferred to digital printing in 2009 by Routledge (New York).

(Modified) excerpt:

Semantic primitives offer us a tool for investigating the structure of semantic groupings or fields. In particular, they can show us how to distinguish nonarbitrary semantic groupings from arbitrary ones; and how to distinguish discrete, self-contained groupings from open-ended ones. I illustrate these tenets with a number of examples pertaining to several different areas of the lexicon: (1) the names of “natural kinds” and “cultural kinds”; (2) speech act verbs; (3) color words.

See also:

(1992) Interjection

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). The semantics of interjection. Journal of Pragmatics, 18(2/3), 159-192. DOI: 10.1016/0378-2166(92)90050-L

Translated into Russian as:

Вежбицкая, А. [Wierzbicka, Anna] (1999). Семантика междометия. In Вежбицкая, А. [Wierzbicka, Anna], Семантические универсалии и описание языков, под ред. Татьяна В. Булыгиной [Semantic universals and the description of languages, ed. Tatyana V. Bulygina] (pp. 611-649). Москва [Moscow]: Языки русской культуры [Languages of Russian Culture].

An expanded version of this paper was published earlier as chapter 8 (pp. 285-339) of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1991, 2003). Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

This paper argues that interjections – like any other linguistic elements – have their meaning, and that this meaning can be identified and captured in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage developed by the author and her colleagues. A number of interjections from English, Polish, Russian, and Yiddish are discussed, and rigorous semantic formulae are proposed which can explain both the similarities and the differences in their range of use. For example, the English interjection yuk! is compared and contrasted with its nearest Polish and Russian counterparts fu!, fe!, rfu!. The author shows that while the meaning of interjections cannot be adequately captured in terms of emotion words such as disgust, it can be captured in terms of more fine-grained components, closer to the level of universal semantic primitives. The role of sound symbolism in the functioning of interjections is discussed, and the possibility of reflecting this symbolism in the semantic formulae is explored.

(1992) Emotions

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Talking about emotions: Semantics, culture, and cognition. Cognition and Emotion, 6(3/4), 285-319. DOI: 10.1080/02699939208411073

Translated into Polish as chapter 4 of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Język – umysł – kultura [Language, mind, culture]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

The author argues that the so-called “basic emotions”, such as happiness, fear or anger, are in fact cultural artifacts of the English language, just as the Ilongot concept of liger, or the Ifaluk concept of song, are the cultural artifacts of Ilongot and Ifaluk. It is therefore as inappropriate to talk about human emotions in general in terms of happiness, fear, or anger as it would be to talk about them in terms of liget or song. However, this does not mean that we cannot penetrate into the emotional world of speakers of languages other than our own. Nor does it mean that there cannot be any universal human emotions. Universality of emotions is an open issue which requires further investigation. For this further investigation to be fully productive, it has to be undertaken from a universal, language and culture-independent perspective; and it has to be carried out in a universalist framework that is language and culture-independent. The author proposes for this purpose the Natural Semantic Metalanguage based on universal (or near-universal) semantic primitives (or near-primitives), developed over two decades by herself and colleagues, and she argues that the use of this metalanguage facilitates such a perspective and offers such a framework.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(1992) Ethnobiology and life forms

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). What is a life form? Conceptual issues in ethnobiology. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 2(1), 3-29. DOI: 10.1525/jlin.1992.2.1.3

A more recent publication building on this one is chapter 12 (pp. 351-375) of:

Wierzbicka, Anna (1996). Semantics: Primes and universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

A number of linguistic tests are proposed to reveal different aspects of conceptual organization as reflected in language. It is argued that important evidence on human conceptualization of the world can be derived from ways of referring (e.g., Look at that plant/animal!), grammatical congruity (e.g., three pigs vs. *three livestocks), morphological structure (e.g., blue spruce vs. tulip tree), collocations and metaphorical transfers (e.g., social butterfly, breed like rabbits), and lexical structure (e.g., Siamese/Siamese cat vs. dog/*spaniel dog). It is also argued that evidence of this kind supports the crucial role of hierarchical taxonomic organization in the domain of living kinds (in contrast to other conceptual domains) and helps clarify the crucial and yet controversial concept of life form proposed by Brent Berlin and his associates.

 

(1992) Semantic primes

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). *Semantic primitives. In William Bright (Ed.), International encyclopaedia of linguistics: Vol. 3 (p. 403). New York: Oxford University Press.

(1992) Categorization

Wierzbicka, Anna (1992). Furniture and birds: A reply to Dwight Bolinger. Cognitive Linguistics, 3(1), 119-123. DOI: 10.1515/cogl.1992.3.1.111

No full-fledged explications are proposed in this short reply to Dwight Bolinger’s reaction following the publication of Wierzbicka’s paper “Prototypes save: On the uses and abuses of the notion ‘prototype’ in linguistics and related fields” (1990). The reply suggests, against Bolinger (for whom furniture and bird are comparable categories), that the explication of collective categories such as furniture, cutlery, kitchenware, clothing, or bedlinen should start as follows:

things of different kinds
they are in the same place
(because people want them to be in the same place)

In the case of taxonomic concepts such as bird, tree, flower, or fish, the beginning of the explications will be different and refer instead to “a kind of thing”.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners