Asc Page 7 – nsm-approach.net

Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations”

The Wealth of Nations in NSM (Gian Marco Farese & Bart J. Wilson, 2020)

This is a series of semantic illustrations capturing the Fundamental Principles of Economic Theory discussed by Adam Smith (1723-1790) in his opus magnum The Wealth of Nations (first published in 1776). It is the longest text ever produced in Natural Semantic Metalanguage and written strictly in pure NSM (not Minimal English) using only semantic primes and a small number of semantic molecules. The order of the illustrations follows the order in which Smith introduced his arguments in the original text. The paraphrased text is intended to function as a sort of explicative guide to the original phrased in simple and cross-translatable words. It is not meant to replace the original, but to be read together with it. We demonstrate that: (i) by reducing the principles of economics as conceived by Smith to their core meanings, it is possible to resolve a number of interpretive ambiguities that permeate discussions on economics, and (ii) by producing explications that are clear, cross-translatable, and free from terminological ethnocentrism, these principles become accessible and maximally intelligible to twenty-first century readers who are non-experts in economics and non-native speakers of English, too.

Bibliography:
Goddard, Cliff, Anna Wierzbicka, and Gian Marco Farese. 2019. The conceptual semantics of ‘money words’: money, buy, pay, (it) costs. Paper presented at the Australian Linguistics Society Conference, December 2019, Sydney, Australia.
Smith, Vernon L. and Bart J. Wilson. 2019. Humanomics. Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, Bart J. and Gian Marco Farese. (forthcoming). ‘What Did Adam Smith Mean? The Semantics of The Wealth of Nations’. In P. Sagar (ed.), Smith After 300 Years, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Coronavirus: Getting to the other side

On Monday 6 April, 2020, a week before Easter, the NSM community conducted an international workshop online (devoted to both NSM and Minimal English) organised and hosted by Cliff Goddard in Brisbane. One of those registered for the workshop was Maria Giulia Marini from Italy’s Fondazione ISTUD, based in Milan. A researcher in medical humanities and Editor-in-Chief of the online Chronicles of Narrative Medicine, Professor Marini is a strong believer in the power of Minimal English as a global tool of effective communication, most importantly, from her point of view, in health care. She addressed our semantic workshop last week with an “SOS” (as she called it) from Italy, urging us to develop some accessible messages in Minimal English for the time of the coronavirus – messages she will be able to distribute through her networks in Italy and France, and that could also be promoted globally.

In response, Anna Wierzbicka has written (with considerable input from Cliff Goddard and other colleagues) the text below: “Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus”. She would like these “essential messages” to reach many people in many countries.

It seems evident that in the present crisis effective communication is of the essence. There is of course no shortage of information in the public arena, but it is often formulated in a language that is not accessible to everyone; in particular, for many culturally and educationally disadvantaged sections of the population, messages in “Minimal Languages” (accessible and cross-translatable) could be particularly useful. And not only practical messages but messages helping people psychologically and spiritually – a point strongly emphasized by Professor Marini in her appeal to us.

Other Minimal Language versions of these “essential messages” are in preparation. They will be available for download as they come to hand. All versions may be freely redistributed, with proper acknowledgement of the source (https://nsm-approach.net/archives/category/illustrations/coronavirus).

Coronavirus (Minimal English) (Anna Wierzbicka; updated 19 May 2020)

Coronavirus (Minimal Italian) (translated from the original ME version by Gian Marco Farese)
Coronavirus (Minimal Italian) (translated from the updated ME version by Gian Marco Farese; 21 May 2020)
Coronavirus (Minimal Polish) (translated from the original ME version by Zuzanna Bułat-Silva)
Coronavirus (Minimal Polish) (translated from the updated ME version by Zuzanna Bułat-Silva; 23 May 2020)
Coronavirus (Minimal Spanish) (translated from the original ME version by María Auxiliadora Barrios-Rodríguez)
Coronavirus (Minimal Spanish) (translated from the updated ME version by María Auxiliadora Barrios-Rodríguez; 2 June 2020)

External links:

Coronavirus Messages in Australian Aboriginal Languages (hosted by the Alice Springs Baptist Church)

 

Published in the Russian Journal of Linguistics as Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus

 

SEVEN ESSENTIAL MESSAGES FOR THE TIME OF THE CORONAVIRUS (15/4/2020)

 

Essential message 1

It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:

This time is not like other times.
Very bad things are happening to many people now.
Very bad things are happening to many people’s bodies because of the coronavirus,
many people are dying because of this.
More people can die if I do some things now as I have always done. I don’t want this.
Because of this it will be good if I can be at home all the time.
If I have to be not at home for some time, I will think like this all the time:

I don’t want to be near other people; I don’t want to be so near someone that I can touch them.
I don’t want to be so near someone that I can breathe some of the same air.

 

Essential message 2

It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:

This time is not like other times.
Very bad things are happening to many people now.
Many people feel something very very bad.
I can do some good things for some of these people; I want to do something good for them.
I want to know what I can do; I want to think about it today; I want to do something today.

 

Essential message 3

It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:

This time is not like other times.
During this time many people can’t be with other people as before.
They can’t speak to other people like before; many people feel something very bad because of this.
I know some of these people. I want these people to know that I am thinking about them.
I want them to know that I don’t want bad things to happen to them.
I want to do something because of this.
Perhaps I can write to them, perhaps I can ring them, something like this.
I want to do something today.

 

Essential message 4

It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:

This time is not like other times.
Very bad things can happen to me during this time, not like at other times.
At the same time, I can do some very good things during this time, not like at other times.
I can do many things “good for the soul”, not like at other times.
I can read books, I listen to music, write something every day about this day, things like that.
If I pray, I can pray more; if I don’t pray, I can do something like it.
I want to do these things. I want to do these things today.

 

Essential message 5

It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:

This time is not like other times.
I don’t want to think about it like this:

“Very bad things are happening now, nothing good can happen because of this”.

I want to think like this:

I can do some very good things during this time, not like at other times.
If I do these things, after this bad time I can be not as I was before:
I can know some people better, I can love some people more.
I want this.

 

Essential message 6

It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:

This time is not like other times.
I can’t live during this time as I lived before.
At the same time, I can think about many things more, not as before.
I can think more about things like this:

Why do I live on earth? What do I live for? How can I live if I want to live well?
If I know that I will die soon, what do I want to do before I die?

If I think about these things more now, after this bad time I can live not as I lived before.
I can then live in another way, I can live better.
I want this.

 

Essential message 7

It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:

This time is not like other times.
We can’t live during this time as we lived before.
At the same time, we can think about some things more now, not as before.
We can think about things like this:

“We all live with other people, none of us is like an island.
How can we live well with other people?”

If we think about these things more now, after this bad time we can live with other people
not like before; we can live better.
We want this.

(2019) Chinese – Semantics of grammar

Ye, Zhengdao (2019). The emergence of expressible agency and irony in today’s China: A semantic explanation of the new bèi-construction. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 39(1), 57-78.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2019.1542933

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the new passive bèi-construction in Chinese, dating approximately from 2009. By 2012, this new usage had entered the most authoritative Chinese dictionary. While previous studies have mostly focused on the pragmatic effect of this structure, this study aims to trace the motivational forces behind this language innovation by examining the linguistic, cultural and social factors contributing to its emergence. In particular, it examines the specific features of the bèi-construction, using NSM to spell out its meaning and identify the semantic links between its variant forms, especially with respect to degrees of transitivity. It is then demonstrated that it is not accidental that the conventional bèi-construction has been ingeniously and humorously recruited and modified to express agency and disagreement with a higher authority, or even dissent in an authoritarian society, and that a deeper understanding of the bèi phenomenon not only affords insight into the cultural ethos developing in today’s China, but also offers an excellent example of (a) non-autonomous syntax and (b) mechanisms of language change in the age of internet and social media, when language innovation often takes place consciously
among internet users, transcends geographical barriers and is easier to trace than before.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also:

(2020) Chinese (Cantonese), English – Ethnopragmatics

Wakefield, John C.; Winnie Chor, Winnie; & Lai, Nikko (2020). Condolences in Cantonese and English: What people say and why. In Kerry Mullan, Bert Peeters, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 1. Ethnopragmatics and semantic analysis (pp. 35-58). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9983-2_3

Abstract:

This study uses the ethnopragmatics approach to examine the cultural-based knowledge that guides Cantonese and Anglo-English speakers when offering death-related condolences, or what we refer to here as ‘condolence routines’. The data come from discourse completion tasks, the existence of cultural key phrases, and the authors’ native-speaker intuitions. The authors examine condolences that are offered to a good friend who has recently lost someone close to him or her. They present cultural scripts that are proposed to account for the linguistic contrasts in Cantonese versus English condolence routines. The Cantonese script is entirely new while the English script is revised from a previous study.

Based on our analysis, we conclude that the primary contrast is that Anglo-English condolences typically focus on expressing that the condoler feels sad because of the bereaved’s loss, while Cantonese condolences typically focus on telling the bereaved not to be sad and to take care of his- or herself. Knowledge of this contrast in sociopragmatics is not only a meaningful contribution to the study of pragmatics; it is also of practical help to people in regular contact with Cantonese and/or Anglo-English speakers. It can help one understand how to avoid saying something during a condolence routine that may sound inappropriate, or even insensitive, to speakers of these two languages.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , , ,

(Forthcoming) English – Discourse particles and intonation

Wakefield, John C. (Forthcoming). It’s not as bad as you think: An English tone for ‘downplaying’. In Wentao Gu (Ed.), Studies on tonal aspects of languages. Hong Kong: Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph.

More information:

A version of this paper is part of the final chapter of the author’s book Intonational morphology, Singapore, Springer, 2020.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2020) Japanese – Cultural key words

Asano-Cavanagh, Yuko; Farese, Gian Marco (2020). In staunch pursuit: The semantics of the Japanese terms shūkatsu ‘job hunting’ and konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’. In Bert Peeters, Kerry Mullan, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture (pp. 17-33). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7_2

Abstract:

This chapter presents an analysis of two Japanese compound words that share a common suffix. The words are 就活 shūkatsu ‘job hunting’ and 婚活 konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’. It is perhaps not entirely unexpected that the English glosses fall short of conveying the significant cultural context behind them. The shared suffix, 活 katsu, comes from the Japanese word 活動 katsudō, which means ‘activity’. 活 katsu implies a high level of engagement and dedication as well as a degree of obligation or a sense of duty associated with the task. For instance, 就活 shūkatsu implies single-mindedness regarding the activity of job-seeking, requiring deliberate effort from the participant. Similarly, 婚活 konkatsu implies that total devotion to the act of finding a marriage partner.

婚活 konkatsu, unlike 就活 shūkatsu, has drawn some attention from scholars, but no accurate semantic analysis of either has been carried out thus far. This study uses the framework of the NSM approach to clarify the meaning of these two Japanese compound words. The analysis reveals that the people engaged in the activities they refer to are fearful of not attaining their goal and that the use of the suffix 活katsu in the Japanese word formation process is therefore semantically rooted. The analysis also assists in identifying and elaborating on some of the contradictions and complexities of modern Japanese society.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: ,

(2020) English, Italian – Ethnopragmatics

Farese, Gian Marco (2020). The ethnopragmatics of English understatement and Italian exaggeration: Clashing cultural scripts for the expression of personal opinions. In Kerry Mullan, Bert Peeters, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 1. Ethnopragmatics and semantic analysis (pp. 59-73). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9983-2_4

Abstract:

This chapter presents a cultural semantic analysis of the differences in the expression of personal opinions between English and Italian. In English, personal opinions are generally understated, whereas speakers of Italian tend to purposely exaggerate when making a statement. As one might expect, opposite communicative styles can lead to cases of miscommunication in cross-cultural interactions. Such cases can be avoided if language learners are provided with efficient tools, which can help them improve their cross-cultural awareness and competence. Adopting the approach of ethnopragmatics, this chapter proposes the theory of cultural scripts as the optimal pedagogical tool to pinpoint the differences in the expression of personal opinions between English and Italian and show how scripts can be used effectively for cross-cultural training.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , , , ,

(2020) Amharic – NSM primes

Amberber, Mengistu (2020). The conceptual semantics of alienable possession in Amharic. In Kerry Mullan, Bert Peeters, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 1. Ethnopragmatics and semantic analysis (pp. 207-222). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9983-2_11

Abstract:

This study investigates the semantics of alienable possession in Amharic, with particular reference to a recent proposal in the NSM framework according to which ‘true possession’ or ‘ownership’ is more adequately expressed by the semantic prime (BE) MINE than by the (now abandoned) prime HAVE. The author argues that this claim is borne out by data from Amharic. It is shown that the verb allə ‘have’ cannot reliably distinguish between true possession and other types of possessive relations, whereas the sequence jəne nəw ‘it is mine’ is consistently associated with ownership. The study also briefly examines the semantics of two sets of verbs in which the semantic prime for alienable possession plays a key role.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , ,

(2018) English, Polish – Totalitarian (in)experience in literary works [BOOK]

Biegajło, Bartłomiej (2018). Totalitarian (in)experience in literary works and their translations: between East and West. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Abstract:

This book explores the different images of totalitarianism in 20th century literature and the capacity of NSM to be adopted in a comparative literary study in the analysis of four totalitarian literary works written in Polish and English, together with their translation into English and Polish respectively. The key question addressed here is the totalitarian experience, which, it is assumed, conditions the literary reflections of the regime provided by Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Czesław Miłosz and Tadeusz Konwicki. Brief biographical details are provided with regards to each of the writers and their private experiences are linked with the works they published. Additionally, key concepts are named for each of the works subject to discussion, and it is their cross-linguistic analysis carried out within the NSM framework that forms the core of the book.

Rating:


Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner

(2017) English, Korean – Speech acts

Yu, Kyong-Ae (2017). Perceptions and functions of Korean mianhada: comparison with American English sorry. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 25(2), 197-224.

DOI: http://doi.org/10.14353/sjk.2017.25.2.07 / Open access

Abstract:

Sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic conventions for apology vary from culture to culture. While the illocutionary purpose of apologizing in English is the speaker’s sense of social obligation and Japanese sumimasen involves social-self with a social alter, this study argues that Korean mianhada is an apology from the speaker’s moral perspective linked with collective-self. Employing NSM, this study discusses that sorry is a separate concept but mianhada is a nebulous concept mixed with other emotions, e.g., thanks and love. In addition, presenting the examples from corpus-based dictionaries, COCA, and the Sejong 21st Century Corpus, this study discusses that sorry is authentically used as indirect and ritualistic apologies while mianhada is used as direct, indirect, ritualistic and substantive apologies. Finally, distinguishing main functions of mianhada into a sincere apology, a pseudo-apology, gratitude, a request initiator, a preclosing signal, and a territory invasion signal to strangers, this study provides cultural and ethnographical explanations.

More information:

Only Kim (2008) has analysed the semantic differences in cultural perceptions between Australian sorry and Korean mianhada using NSM,  but the analysis proposed here for Korean mianhada is different.

Rating:


Sound application of NSM principles carried out without prior training by an experienced NSM practitioner

See also: , , , ,

(2019) Danish – Colours and vision

Levisen, Carsten (2019). “Brightness” in color linguistics: New light from Danish visual semantics. In Ida Raffaelli, Daniela Katunar, & Barbara Kerovec (Eds.), Lexicalization patterns in color naming: A cross-linguistic perspective (pp. 83-108). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.78.05lev

Abstract:

This chapter scrutinizes the discourse of “brightness” in colour linguistics. Drawing on insights from visual semantics and linguistic anthropology, and challenging the universal applicability of “brightness”, the study provides new evidence from Danish. The chapter provides a new analysis of the lexicogrammar and linguaculture of lys ‘light, brightness’ in relation to color. The NSM approach is used to provide detailed semantic explications for three grammatical devices based on lys (lys, lys-, and lyse-), along with an analysis of three Danish lys + colour compounds lyserød ‘light red’, lysegrøn ‘light green’, and lyseblå ‘light blue’. Based on the evidence from Danish and other studies in visual semantics, the chapter calls for a renewed focus on the non-chromatic aspects of visual meanings, and for a metalinguistic reform in colour linguistics.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , , , , , , , ,

(2020) Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication [BOOK, vol. 3]

Sadow, Lauren; Peeters, Bert; & Mullan, Kerry (Eds.) (2020). Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 3. Minimal English (and beyond). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9979-5

Abstract:

This book is the third in a three-volume set that celebrates the career and achievements of Cliff Goddard, a pioneer of the NSM approach in linguistics. This third volume explores the potential of Minimal English, a recent offshoot of NSM, with special reference to its use in language teaching and intercultural communication.

Table of contents: 

1. Minimal English: Taking NSM ‘out of the lab’ (Lauren Sadow)
2. Using NSM and “Minimal” Language for intercultural learning (Susana S. Fernández)
3. From Expensive English to Minimal English (Deborah Hill)
4. “There is no sex in the Soviet Union”: From sex to seks (Anna Wierzbicka & Anna Gladkova)
5. When value words cross cultural borders: English tolerant versus Russian tolerantnyj (Anna Gladkova)
6. The confounding Mandarin colour term ‘qīng’: Green, blue, black or all of the above and more? (Jiashu Tao & Jock Wong)
7. Semantic challenges in understanding Global English: Hypothesis, theory, and proof in Singapore English (Jock Wong)
8. Using Minimal English to model a parental understanding of autism (Alexander Forbes)
9. Principles and prototypes of a cultural dictionary of Australian English for learners (Lauren Sadow)
10. Minimal and inverse definitions: A semi-experimental proposal for compiling a Spanish dictionary with semantic primes and molecules (María Auxiliadora Barrios Rodríguez)
11. Prevalence of NSM primes in easy-to-read and standard Finnish: Findings from newspaper text corpora (Ulla Vanhatalo & Camilla Lindholm)

More information:

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

Review:

Gladkova, Anna. (2020). Review of Sadow, Lauren, Bert Peeters, and Kerry Mullan (eds.). 2020. Studies in Ethnopragmatics, Cultural Semantics, and Intercultural Communication: Vol. 3. Minimal English (and beyond). Singapore: Springer. ISBN 978‐981‐329‐978‐8 Russian Journal of Linguistics, 24(4). pp. 1049—1054

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2020) Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication [BOOK, vol. 2]

Peeters, Bert; Mullan, Kerry; & Sadow, Lauren (Eds.) (2020). Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture. Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7

Abstract:

This book is the second in a three-volume set that celebrates the career and achievements of Cliff Goddard, a pioneer of the NSM approach in linguistics. It focuses on meaning and culture, with sections on words as carriers of cultural meaning and understanding discourse in cultural context.

Table of contents: 

1. Culture is everywhere! (Bert Peeters)

Part I. Words as carriers of cultural meaning

2. In staunch pursuit: the semantics of the Japanese terms shūkatsu ‘job hunting’ and konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’ (Yuko Asano-Cavanagh & Gian Marco Farese)
3. Cultural keywords in Porteño Spanish: viveza criolla, vivo and boludo (Jan Hein)
4. The “Aussie” bogan: an occasioned semantics analysis (Roslyn Rowen)
5. The comfort of home as an ethical value in Mike Packer’s Inheritance (Stella Butter & Zuzanna Bułat Silva)
6. Common Akan insults on GhanaWeb: a semantic analysis of kwasea, aboa and gyimii (Rachel Thompson)
7. Bwénaado: an ethnolexicological study of a culturally salient word in Cèmuhî (New Caledonia) (Bert Peeters & Margo Lecompte-Van Poucke)
8. Heaven and hell are here! The non-religious meanings of English heaven and hell and their Arabic and Hebrew counterparts (Sandy Habib)

Part II. Understanding discourse in cultural context

9. Postcolonial prepositions: semantics and popular geopolitics in the Danosphere (Carsten Levisen)
10. Combining NSM explications for clusters of Cantonese utterance particles: laa3-wo3 and zaa3-wo3 (Helen Hue Lam Leung)

More information:

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

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2020) Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication [BOOK, vol. 1]

Mullan, Kerry; Peeters, Bert; & Sadow, Lauren (Eds.) (2020). Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 1. Ethnopragmatics and semantic analysis. Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9983-2

Abstract:

This book is the first in a three-volume set that celebrates the career and achievements of Cliff Goddard, a pioneer of the NSM approach in linguistics. It explores issues in ethnopragmatics and conversational humour, with a further focus on semantic analysis more broadly.

Table of contents [NSM chapters only]:

2. A brief introduction to the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach (Lauren Sadow & Kerry Mullan)

Part I. Ethnopragmatics

3. Condolences in Cantonese and English: What people say and why (John C. Wakefield, Winnie Chor, & Nikko Lai)
4. The ethnopragmatics of English understatement and Italian exaggeration: Clashing cultural scripts for the expression of personal opinions (Gian Marco Farese)
5. Ethnopragmatics of hāzer javābi, a valued speech practice in Persian (Reza Arab)
6. “The Great Australian Pastime”: Pragmatic and semantic perspectives on taking the piss (Michael Haugh & Lara Weinglass)
7. Thứ-Bậc (‘hierarchy’) in the cultural logic of Vietnamese interaction: An ethnopragmatic perspective (Lien-Huong Vo)

Part II. Semantic analysis

10. Positive appraisal in online news comments (Radoslava Trnavac & Maite Taboada)
11. The conceptual semantics of alienable possession in Amharic (Mengistu Amberber)
12. The meanings of list constructions: Explicating interactional polysemy (Susanna Karlsson)

More information:

Each chapter will soon have its own entry, where additional information is provided.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2019) English, Italian, Japanese – Emotions

Farese, Gian Marco; Asano-Cavanagh, Yuko (2018/19). Analysing nostalgia in cross-linguistic perspective. Philology, 4, 213-241.

DOI: https://doi.org/103726/PHIL042019.6

Abstract:

This paper presents a contrastive semantic analysis of the English nostalgia, the Italian nostalgia and the Japanese 懐かしい natsukashii adopting the methodology of the NSM approach. It is argued that: (i) emotion terms of different languages reflect different and culture-specific conceptualizations of human feelings; (ii) the Anglo conceptualization of feelings is not valid for all cultures; and (iii) linguistic analysis is central to the analysis of human feelings. The paper challenges the claim made by some psychologists that the English word nostalgia expresses a feeling that is pancultural and criticizes the use of English emotion terms as the basis for discussions on human feelings.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: ,

(2019) Italian discourse: a cultural semantic analysis [BOOK]

Farese, Gian Marco (2019). Italian discourse: A cultural semantic analysis. Lanham: Lexington.

Abstract:

Using NSM methodology, this book presents a comprehensive analysis of the most important Italian cultural key words and cultural scripts that foreign learners and cultural outsiders need to know to become linguistically and culturally proficient in Italian. It focuses on the words and speech practices that are used most frequently in Italian discourse and that are uniquely Italian, both because they are untranslatable into other languages and because they are reflective of salient aspects of Italian culture and society. The book sheds light on ways in which the Italian language is related to Italians’ character, values, and way of thinking, and it does so in contrastive perspective with English. Each chapter focuses on a cultural keyword, putting it into cultural context and tracing it through a series of written texts including novels, plays, poems, and songs.

Table of contents:

  1. Parlami e ti dirò chi sei
  2. Che bello!
  3. Una brutta storia
  4. Italiani, brava gente
  5. Italiani sapientoni
  6. Italiani attori
  7. Italiani comandanti
  8. Conclusione

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2002) Russian – Ethnopragmatics (avant la lettre)

Вежбицкая, Анна [Wierzbicka, Anna] (2002). Русские культурные скрипты и их отражение в языке [Russian cultural scripts and their reflection in the language]. Русский язык в научном освещении, 2(4), 6-34.

More information:

Reissued as:

Вежбицкая, Анна (2005). Русские культурные скрипты и их отражение в языке. In Анна А. Зализняк, И.Б. Левонтина, А.Д. Шмелев (Eds.), ключевые идеи русской языковой картины мира [Key ideas of the Russian linguistic worldview] (pp. 467-499). Москва (Moscow): Языки славянских культур [Languages of Slavic Culture].

Chapter 11 (pp. …-…) of Вежбицкая, Анна (2011). Семантические универсалии и базисные концепты [Semantic universals and basic concepts]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки славянских культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also:

(2001) Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics [BOOK]

Вежбицкая, Анна [Wierzbicka, Anna] (2001). Сопоставление культур через посредство лексики и прагматики [Comparison of cultures through vocabulary and pragmatics]. Москва [Moscow]: Языки Славянской Культуры [Languages of Slavic Culture].

Abstract:

This book is an anthology of papers and chapters by Anna Wierzbicka, originally published in English and appearing here in a Russian translation.

Table of contents:

  1. «Грусть» и «гнев» в русском языке: Неуниверсальность так называемых «базовых человеческих емоций» [“Sadness” and “anger” in the Russian language: The non-universality of the so-called “basic human emotions”]
  2. Angst
  3. Японские культурные сценарии: психология и «грамматика» культуры [Japanese cultural scripts: The psychology and “grammar” of culture]
  4. Немецкие «культурные сценарии»: обцественные знаки как ключ к понианию обцественных отношений и культурных ценностей [German ‘cultural scripts’: Public signs as a key to understanding social relations and cultural values]
  5. Значение Иисусовых притч: семантический подход к Евангелиям [The meaning of Jesus’ parables: A semantic approach to the Gospels]

More information:

Chapter 1 is a translation of: “Sadness” and “anger” in Russian: The non-universality of the so-called “basic human emotions” (1998)

Chapter 2 is a translation of: Angst (1998)

Chapter 3 is a translation of: Japanese cultural scripts: Cultural psychology and “cultural grammar” (1996)

Chapter 4 is a translation of: German ‘cultural scripts’: Public signs as a key to social attitudes and cultural values (1998)

Chapter 5 is a translation of: The meaning of Jesus’ parables: A semantic approach to the Gospels (1998)

See the original chapters for abstracts and links to explications and cultural scripts.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

(2018) English, Hebrew, Arabic – Folk religious concepts

Habib, Sandy (2018). Heaven and hell: A cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural places. RASK, 48, 1–34.

Open access

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to devise a cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural place terms. To achieve this objective, six supernatural place concepts were analysed, and an explication for each concept was built. Comparing the explications yielded a seven-part semantic template. The usefulness of this semantic template is threefold. First, it eases the task of explicating supernatural place concepts because the parts of the template can serve as guidelines to be followed while constructing the explications. Second, it makes it easier to compare related supernatural place concepts from different languages. Third, it unveils the devices that are embodied in the structure of supernatural place concepts and that enable people to use these complex concepts without difficulty.

Rating:


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

See also: , , , , ,

(1981) English, Japanese – Speech acts

Nevile, Ann (1981). A comparison of selected speech acts in Japanese and English. BA(Hons) thesis,
Australian National University.

Rating:


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners