Abstract
Following the seminal work of Wierzbicka (1985, 2013), this paper proposes and discusses a set of semantic analyses of words from three different levels of the English ethnozoological taxonomic hierarchy (Berlin 1992): creature (unique beginner), bird, fish, snake, and animal (life-form level), dog and kangaroo (generic level). The analytical framework is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach (Wierzbicka 1996, 2014, Goddard and Wierzbicka 2014). Though ultimately resting on the foundational elements of the NSM system, i.e. 65 semantic primes and their inherent grammar of combination, the analysis relies on the analytical concepts of semantic molecules and semantic templates (Goddard 2012, 2016). These provide mechanisms for encapsulating semantic complexity and for modelling relations between successive layers of the hierarchy. Other issues considered include the extent to which cultural components feature in the semantics of ethnozoological categories, and the extent to which semantic knowledge may vary across different speech communities.
Highlights
There is an enormous literature on natural kind concepts
This paper proposes a set of semantic analyses of words from three levels of the English ethnozoological taxonomic hierarchy: creature, bird, fish, snake, and animal, dog and kangaroo
Cross-linguistic research indicates that semantic primes, and many important semantic molecules, are expressible lexically in all or most languages1
Summary
There is an enormous literature on natural kind concepts. In ethnobiology the major reference points include Berlin (1972, 1992), Brown (1977), and Atran (1990), in philosophy Kripke (1977), and in cognitive psychology Rosch (1977, 1978). The foundational work is Wierzbicka (1985), building on Apresjan (1969, 1992 [1974]). Across this literature, there is broad agreement that it makes sense to recognise taxonomic hierarchies (Berlin 1992), with the words at each rank being semantically more general and wider in their denotative range than the ones below them. This paper proposes a set of semantic analyses (explications) of words from three levels of the English ethnozoological taxonomic hierarchy: creature (unique beginner), bird, fish, snake, and animal (life-form level), dog and kangaroo (generic level)
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