Abstract
This introduction to the Special Issue summarises Anna Wierzbicka’s contribution to the linguistic study of meaning. It presents the foundations of the approach known as the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) developed by Wierzbicka. The current state of the approach is discussed in the article with the ideas of 65 semantic primitives, universal grammar and the principle of reductive paraphrase in semantic explications. It traces the origin of Wierzbicka’s ideas to Leibniz. The framework has been tested on about thirty languages of diverse origin. The applications of the approach are broad and encompass lexical areas of emotions, social categories, speech act verbs, mental states, artefacts and animals, verbs of motion, kinship terms (among others), as well as grammatical constructions.
Highlights
The current and the issue of the Russian Journal of Linguistics are dedicated to Anna Wierzbicka
In 2018 Anna Wierzbicka celebrates her anniversary and the Russian Journal of Linguistics highjacks two issues to celebrate her scholarship and the warmth of her personality. Those of us who are fortunate to know her personally are moved by her kindness and moral support. She has been an inspiration to a countless number of colleagues, young scholars, and students in Russia and beyond
Professor Anna Wierzbicka is a Professor Emeritus in Linguistics at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
Summary
In 2018 Anna Wierzbicka celebrates her anniversary and the Russian Journal of Linguistics highjacks two issues to celebrate her scholarship and the warmth of her personality Those of us who are fortunate to know her personally are moved by her kindness and moral support. Professor Anna Wierzbicka is a Professor Emeritus in Linguistics at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. Five books of hers (Wierzbicka 1996, 1999b, 2001a, b, 2011) along with numerous articles have been published in Russia In this regard, Elena Paducheva rightly notes (2009[1996]: 629): Undoubtedly, the influence of Wierzbicka’s scholarship on linguistic studies in Russia (in general linguistics and Russian linguistics in the first place) is notably greater than in any other country.
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