Natural Semantic Metalanguage Research Articles

Natural Semantic Metalanguage of Action Verbs in Balinese

Natural Semantic Metalanguage of Action Verbs in Balinese

Interjection Bah! in Batak Toba: A natural semantic metalanguage approach

Interjection is the word used to show spontaneous expression. Batak language has a specific emotive interjection Bah! which is different from other interjections in the language. The objectives of this study are to find the meanings of interjection Bah! and to classify the elements of feelings of this interjection. This is a descriptive qualitative study employing the semantic explication method of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. The data was collected from the interjection Bah! in a Batak Toba short story entitled Mangongkal Holi. The data were obtained by the attentive observation method and tapping technique. The methods used for data analysis were the distribution and contextual method. The results of this study showed that there are five meanings of the interjection Bah! They are astonishment, disappointment, confusion, surprise, and amazement. Meanwhile, those meanings express two elements of feelings, which are the positive feeling element (i.e. surprise and amazement), and the negative feeling element (i.e. astonishment, disappointment, and confusion). The revelation of the various meanings of Bah! is expected to provide richer understanding on its use in communication, and to further avoid miscommunication between different ethnics in Indonesia which each has their own mother tongue.

Una aproximación al estilo comunicativo de cercanía interpersonal del español a partir de la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural

ResumenEl presente artículo discute un estilo comunicativo típico de muchos hispanohablantes, que a menudo ha sido caracterizado en la literatura sobre pragmática y comunicación intercultural como de cercanía interpersonal y de confianza. El punto de partida teórico y metodológico es la teoría de la Metalengua Semántica Natural (NSM, por sus siglas en inglés), que propone el uso de un minivocabulario de conceptos básicos para explicar otros más complejos. En este caso, presentamos descripciones (que en la teoría se denominanguiones culturales) de distintos aspectos de este estilo comunicativo de cercanía y de palabras claves culturales y rasgos gramaticales relacionados con este modo de comunicar al que, consciente o inconscientemente, adhieren muchos hispanohablantes. Nos basamos en trabajos ya realizados por otros autores dentro de la NSM y proponemos también nuevas descripciones.

The Verb “Memukul’ in the Balinese Language Dialect Spoken at Taro Village: A Natural Semantic Metalanguage Study

The people living at Taro village speak the Balinese language as their daily language. As the speakers of the Balinese languge, they never neglect the speech order, as can be seen from the fact that they still use the Balinese words, which in the modern era, have been neglected, resulting in the fact that many people are not familiar with a number of words, especially those which belong to the verb word class, one of which is the verb “ngetok” (hit). The Balinese language has a great number of verbs; however, the current study only analyses the verb “ngetok’ (hit) using the theory of Natural Metalanguage Semantics (NMS). The verb “ngetok” (hit) has a great number of equivalents; they are ngebug, ngedig, nigtig, ngupek, megambel, mugpugin, mukpukin, ngukul, nungting, ngempug, nyakcak, noktok, ngeplokin, nebuk, ngaasin, nepung, ngintuk, ngalocok, namplak, nyemés, nempéléng, nyagur, nyepédin, nglamet, ngamplongin, ngamplengin, ngemplangin, nglentangin, ngaplekin, nyontok, nylimed and mentil. One verb is different from another, although they are all used to express the action of hitting something or someone, depending on what tool is used to hit and the subject and object which are hit. The verb “ngetok” (hit) in the Balinese language has two different meanings; namely doing something and taking place, which can be explained using the explication technique in which it is described that “X does something on Y, causing something either bad or good to occur to Y”. Such differences in meaning can be obtained through the analysis of the original meaning using the non-compositional polysemy

Semantic Structure of Verbs ‘Touch’ in Indonesian and Batak Toba Language

This study discusses the semantic structures of the verbs “touch” in Indonesian and Batak Toba Language. This study applied the Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory by Wierzbicka. The data were collected through observation and interview methods. The findings are four parts of the verbs “touch” found in Indonesian and Batak Toba Language, they are: a) touch – feel; b) touch – press; c) touch – beat; d) touch – rub. The semantic structures of the verbs “touch” in Indonesian and BTL are mostly similar. However, there are three verbs which are different in the semantic structures, they are: meremas (mamisat) ‘squeeze’, menepuk (manompuk) ‘pat’ and mencubit (manggotil) ‘pinch’. The semantic structure differences in Indonesian and BTL occur because the two societies are distinctive and the different use of the language is diverse.

THE MAPPING OF ACTION VERBS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH FOR FOOD PRODUCTION

This study is focused on the procedure of verbs’ translation in English (source language) into Indonesian language (target language), and how the mapping of action verb meanings in the procedural text. The research uses qualitative method, employing a cooking book recipe “Step by Step Cooking Balinese Delightful for Everyday” as its data source and its Indonesian translation. The theory used in this research is the theory of Vinay and Darbelnet (in Venuti, 2000) about translation procedures that include borrowing, calque, literal translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation. The theory of applying the natural semantic metalanguage approach (NSM) proposed by Wierzbicka (1996) is used to discuss the mapping of English action verbs. The theory is applied in order to explain how the Indonesian action verb meanings are mapped into English, with the exponential mapping technique. The description of the mapping meanings including the exponential mapping to the action verb of the Indonesian language has produced a new dimension. This new dimension turns out to be able to explore the meaning of the lexical item including the one that has even a subtle difference, therefore there is no more swirling of meaning.
 Keywords: translation procedure, action verb, mapping of meaning

Прикладная этнолингвистика о правильном использовании стереотипов в курсе французского как иностранного

The stereotypes envisaged in this paper serve as a starting point for a research protocol aimed at corroborating the reality, in French languaculture, of the cultural value of stance-taking. The protocol adopted here is part of a research paradigm called applied ethnolinguistics, elaborated for use with and by foreign language students whose linguistic competence is sufficiently advanced to enable them to use their language resources to discover, through essentially (but not uniquely) linguistic means, the cultural values typically associated with the languaculture they study. Since the posited values are hypothetical, corroboration will be required. A specific protocol (the one illustrated here) has been set aside for this purpose. The cultural value of stance-taking will be presented in the form of a pedagogical script expressed in minimal French, a descriptive tool based on the French version of the natural semantic metalanguage. Precautions are taken to ensure that end-users of such scenarios are aware that they are dealing with generalisations (which are unavoidable as languacultures are never homogeneous).

A Universally Translatable Explication of Adam Smith’s Famous Proposition on 'The Extent of the Market'

Following Smith’s line of argument, we discuss the semantics of four economic principles in Chapter III of the 'Wealth of Nations' that compose Adam Smith’s famous proposition “that division of labour is limited by the extent of the market.” We apply the Natural Semantic Metalanguage framework in linguistics to produce an explication that is clear and plain, cross-translatable into any language, intelligible to twenty-first century readers, and faithfully close to the original text. Our paper demonstrates that Smith’s ideas can be shared among speakers with different linguacultural backgrounds in line with the truly global view of economics that, we argue, Adam Smith had in mind: economics intended as the science of all people living and doing things together with other people so as to live well and to feel good.

THE MAPPING OF ACTION VERBS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH FOR FOOD PRODUCTION

This study is focused on the procedure of verbs’ translation in English (source language) into Indonesian language (target language), and how the mapping of action verb meanings in the procedural text. The research uses qualitative method, employing a cooking book recipe “Step by Step Cooking Balinese Delightful for Everyday” as its data source and its Indonesian translation. The theory used in this research is the theory of Vinay and Darbelnet (in Venuti, 2000) about translation procedures that include borrowing, calque, literal translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation. The theory of applying the natural semantic metalanguage approach (NSM) proposed by Wierzbicka (1996) is used to discuss the mapping of English action verbs. The theory is applied in order to explain how the Indonesian action verb meanings are mapped into English, with the exponential mapping technique. The description of the mapping meanings including the exponential mapping to the action verb of the Indonesian language has produced a new dimension. This new dimension turns out to be able to explore the meaning of the lexical item including the one that has even a subtle difference, therefore there is no more swirling of meaning. Keywords: translation procedure, action verb, mapping of meaning

Explaining IT programming concepts using NSM explications: The case of ‘variable’ and ‘constant’

The paper seeks to explore a practical application of Natural Semantic Metalanguage in defining two core concepts in computer programming, i.e. the concept of a variable and the concept of a constant. The investigation of both programming concepts is carried out with reference to Apple’s Swift programming language, which is now the dominant language in creating applications designed for Apple’s devices. The explications of a variable and a constant developed in this paper are tentative definitions of the most fundamental functionalities behind the two programming concepts. They are meant to ease the learning experience of programming enthusiasts who are at the early stages of their learning path.

The semantics of evaluational adjectives

AbstractWe apply the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach (Goddard & Wierzbicka 2014) to the lexical-semantic analysis of English evaluational adjectives and compare the results with the picture developed in the Appraisal Framework (Martin & White 2005). The analysis is corpus-assisted, with examples mainly drawn from film and book reviews, and supported by collocational and statistical information from WordBanks Online. We propose NSM explications for 15 evaluational adjectives, arguing that they fall into five groups, each of which corresponds to a distinct semantic template. The groups can be sketched as follows: “First-person thought-plus-affect”, e.g.wonderful; “Experiential”, e.g.entertaining; “Experiential with bodily reaction”, e.g.gripping; “Lasting impact”, e.g.memorable; “Cognitive evaluation”, e.g.complex, excellent. These groupings and semantic templates are compared with the classifications in the Appraisal Framework’s system of Appreciation. In addition, we are particularly interested in sentiment analysis, the automatic identification of evaluation and subjectivity in text. We discuss the relevance of the two frameworks for sentiment analysis and other language technology applications.

Natural Semantic Metalanguage as an approach to measuring meaning

Do any interesting or valuable fundamental commonalities arise when measurement and linguistic methods are used to understand the same phenomena? A basis for such commonality resides in the human desire for meaning, a need manifest in all cultures and languages. However, the notion of meaning is rarely associated with measurement; it resides more comfortably in the study of language and linguistics. This exploration commences with an examination of measurement theories, principally Rasch Measurement Theory (RMT), with the aim of identifying opportunities for elucidating the meaning of objects of measurement. A brief overview of the discipline of linguistics then reveals the importance of semantics in expressing meaning. An explanation of how the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) can enable explication of linguistic meaning follows. The paper concludes with a proposal for ecological applications of invariant measurement and the NSM.

Issues with molecules in Natural Semantic Metalanguage

The paper examines the theoretical merit of “semantic molecules” in Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Although semantic molecules are said to trace semantic dependence and necessity, compress complexity, and to account for what I call its productivity, that doesn't appear to be the case. This can be illustrated on the basis of a comparison of two explications for the same complex meaning—one containing a molecule and the other its decomposed elements. Counterfactual considerations suggest that the latter is not semantically dependent on the lexicalized molecule and that it is, in turn, not necessary. The other side of the comparison cements the point. This leaves the issue of compression, complexity, and productivity—none of which are helped by semantic molecules, as they appear to do little more than conceal complexity. Meanwhile, they are not required to account for productivity. It seems that molecules may need to be rethought.

VERBA LEMPAR BAHASA BALI: KAJIAN METABAHASA SEMANTIK ALAMI

Throwing verbs in Balinese language have several lexicon variations which show differention of context meaning. The lexicon variations for the word ‘throw’ depend on what is used to throw, the extent of the throw, the target of the throw, and the effects caused by the throw. This verb analysis is examined based on the Natural Semantics Metalanguage (NSM) approach which is a modern semantic study initiated by Wierzbicka (1996) which aims to describe the lexical, grammatical, and illocutionary meaning of a language. The results obtained that throwing verbs can be divided into two groups, namely based on the target throwing (nyabat, nyampar, nylampar, nylémpang, nimpug, and medut), and without target throwing (nguerang and ngentungang). Verbs meaning 'throwing' in Balinese only has one prototype, that is, the prototype of action and this prototype also only has one default meaning type, namely the type of doing: thrown, and semantic verb structure which means 'throwing' in Balinese has a syntactic pattern NSM X does something at Y and something happens to Y.

STRUKTUR SEMANTIS VERBA ‘NAIK’ DALAM BAHASA JEPANG

This article focuses in analyzing the semantic structure of ‘go up’ verb in Japanese language. The data was collected from newspaper article from website asahi.com by observation method and note-taking techniques. The data was analyzed using distribution method. Distribution method was used to analyze semantic structure by using Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory developed by Goddard and Wierzbicka (2014). The results shows that ‘go up’ verb in Japanese Language consists of verb noru, noboru, and agaru. Each verb had distinctive features that differentiate one verb to the others.

Polskie ekwiwalenty semantyczne rosyjskiego rzeczownika ярость

The purpose of this article is to compare the Russian noun ярость (rage) and its Polish semantic equivalents (gniew, wściekłość, pasja, furia) reported by Russian-Polish and Polish-Russian Dictionaries. Monographs, articles and dictionary entries have been used to analyse the terms and to create new definitions of feelings based on the Natural semantic metalanguage (NSM). The new definitions were written using sixty semantic primes, are universal for all languages, which helped to show similarities or differences between such difficult terms as feelings. Using this method, symmetry and asymmetry of equivalence have been found between Russian and Polish words.

Explicating verbs for “laughing with other people” in French and English (and why it matters for humour studies)

AbstractThis study undertakes a contrastive lexical-semantic analysis of a set of related verbs in English and French (Englishto jokeandto kid, Frenchrigolerandplaisanter), using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to semantic analysis. We show that the semantic and conceptual differences between French and English are greater than commonly assumed. These differences, we argue, have significant implications for humor studies: first, they shed light on different cultural orientations towards “laughter talk” in Anglo and French linguacultures; second; they highlight the danger of conceptual Anglocentrism in relying on English-specific words as a theoretical vocabulary for humor studies.

Cultural Keyword ‘Eling’ in Javanese and Its Implication in Javanese Society

Cultural keywords are important information that we can use to understand how people who use those words see life from their perspective. The same can be said about the Javanese community. Some of their words and concepts are exclusive to their own and they can give hindsight to how the Javanese people perceive their life. In order to analyse the meaning behind cultural keywords, Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) is used in this article. The data was taken from several social media posts to illustrate the core meaning of the word ‘eling’. An explication is proposed for the word ‘eling’ as well as a brief conclusion about the multiple meaning of ‘eling’ and its usage.

Mental Predicate KNOW Subtypes KNOW and FEEL in Japanese: Natural Semantic Metalanguage

Goddard and Wierzbicka (2014) mentions the original meanings of mental predicate consisting of six types namely think, know, feel, see, hear, want and don't want. This finding was forwarded into Japanese by Asano Cavanagh (2015), and found 12 verbs of Japanese language that were matched with those found by Goddard and Wierzbicka (2014). Of the twelve mental predicates that were continued by Asano, the type KNOW is matched with the verb ? ? shiru in Japanese. KNOW ?? shiru has subtypes KNOW and SAY. Furthermore, the subtype has three sub-subtypes, namely KNOW and SAY SOME, KNOW and SAY ALL PARTS, and KNOW and SAY AT ALL (NO).

Cognitive Semantics, Linguistic Typology and Grammatical Polysemy: “Possession” and the English Genitive

This paper explores the cognitive semantics of the typological category “possession” using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (nsm) approach. At the macro level, we argue that “possession” is not a unitary cognitive category for speakers, but instead represents an aggregation of diverse semantic schemas which center around three distinct conceptual anchor points: ownership, body-parts, and kinship relations. It is shown how each of these conceptual anchor points can be clearly identified using the nsm metalanguage of semantic primes and molecules. At the micro level, the paper undertakes a close examination of the cognitive semantics of English s-genitives in the frame [THIS SOMEONE’S] SOMETHING, e.g. Mary’s ring, Mary’s shoes, Mary’s drawing, Mary’s plate, Mary’s train. It is argued that the wide range of use of the s-genitive can be captured in a set of five semantic schemas, which constitute a network of grammatical polysemy.