Natural Semantic Metalanguage Theory Research Articles

Verb “Clean Using Water” In Balinese

This paper discusses about verb clean activity using water in Balinese. Unlike Indonesian that are only have less variation words to clean human body like mandi and keramas. Balinese has some more variations to say specific meaning for clean using water. From this phenomenon, the verbs are interested to discuss particularly using theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage by Anna Weirzbicka’s in her book entitled Semantics: Primes and Universal which was published by Oxford University in 1996.This paper was analyzed using Descriptive Qualitative Method and did both library and field research method. Library research had done by finding the verbs in Balinese books and articles. Afterwards field research did with observation with asking some Balinese speakers. Five words are found to clean a human body; Mambuh (For cleaning hair), Mesugi (face) etc. Meanwhile one word (ngumbah) is neutral??. It means the word can be used to describe in human body and non-human body.Then the last, there are two words in Balinese which were found to describe cleaning activity using water in Balinese to clean something or the activity which not to clean human body like nyusud and ngepel.

STRUKTUR SEMANTIK VERBA PERSEPSI BAHASA MELAYU KUPANG: PERSPEKTIF METABAHASA SEMANTIK ALAMI (MSA)

East Nusa Tenggara is one of archipelago provinces consisting of various ethnics and languages. Kupang Malay (KM) is a lingua franca used in daily communication. The use of KM lexicons especially in an inappropriate context can create misunderstanding among individual. To avoid this, it is important to comprehend the lexical meaning and how to use it properly. This short paper explains an approach of natural semantic meta-language in analyzing KM data especially perception Verb SEE by using descriptive analysis method and applying natural semantic meta-language theory proposed by Weirzbicka (1996). In natural meaning viewpoint proposed by Weirzbicka, perception Verbs in Kupang Malay are formed by mental predicate SEE. This paper focuses only on describing semantic features of every lexicon which has meanings derived from verb SEE. NMS uses semantic analysis approach which is based on the formation of the paraphrase. Semantic Structure of Perception Verb in KM is formed by mental predicate consisting of natural meaning expalined as follows: “someone saw something” in Kupang Malay liat “see” is realized with “ maloi ”, “ malerok ”, “ loti ”, “ pareksa ”, “ basuk ”. Based on the results of analysis, it is concluded that the semantic structure of Perception verb Kupang Malay has 3 types, sub-types and even sub-sub-type that describe the meaning configuration of each lexicon. Distinguishing features can be seen in the mapping and explication.

Meaning Configuration of Cultural Practices in Bali as a Model to Strengthen Identity of Balinese People

This paper attempts to configure the meaning of cultural practices in the field of tradition in Bali including the cultural meaning of assertive, directive, expressive, commissive, and declaration that can be used as a model TO strengthen identity of Balinese people. In order to obtain valid data, participative observation taking the form of a focused group discussion was done in several locations in Bali. The data were then thoroughly analyzed based upon the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage originated by Wierzbicka (1999) with a model of Cultural Scripts proposed by Goddarad (2002). The result of analysis showed that: 1) cultural meanings found in verbal utterance of traditionally cultural practices in Bali could be derived from such functions of speech acts as: (a) assertive with cultural meanings of ngaturang 'to present and ngedengang 'to show '; (b) directive with cultural meanings of ngelungsur keslametan ‘to ask for safety', nuturang 'to advise', ngundang 'to invite'; (c) expressive with cultural meanings of ampura 'to apologize' and suksma 'to thank'; (d) commissive with cultural meaning of mejanji 'to promise'; and (e) declaration with cultural meaning of mutusang 'to decide'; 2) Cultural meanings of Bali cultural practices could be configured using cultural scripts that can be used as a model to strengthen the identity of Balinese people.

Semantic analysis of evidential markers in Japanese

This paper investigates the semantics of three Japanese evidential markers — rashii, yooda and sooda. These three words are often used in similar situations and interpreted in English as ‘it seems’, ‘it appears’, or ‘it looks like’. The expressions are semantically closely related, but sometimes they are not interchangeable. Thus the question arises how to articulate the subtle differences between them. Previous studies have attempted to explicate the differences by using explanatory terms such as ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’ to describe the content of information, and ‘objective’ or ‘subjective’ to describe the attitude towards the information. While these terms are convenient to capture the meaning simplistically, they illustrate only part of the words’ usage, and also the definitions apply equally well to other evidential markers. This study is the first explication of the meanings of these markers using metalanguage and the framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage Theory (NSM Theory) proposed and developed by Anna Wierzbicka and colleagues (Goddard & Wierzbicka 1994, 2002; Peeters ed. 2006; Goddard ed. 2008). By analyzing the deficiencies of the previously presented definitions, and examining actual usage examples drawn from modern Japanese literature, the article applies semantic primes to explicate the meanings of rashii, yooda and sooda. The meanings of each expression are illustrated by cognitive scenarios such as ‘I think I can say something like this about X’, or ‘I think this about X at the moment’. The resulting semantic formulae clarify the differences between the three expressions. They also have utility for assisting second language learners in decisions about using the three terms.

A semantic analysis of Japanese epistemic markers: chigainai and hazuda

This paper presents a semantic analysis of two epistemic markers in Japanese— chigainai and hazuda. These are often translated as I am sure, must, or should in English, and they indicate the speaker’s certainty about the truth or falsehood of a proposition. While chigainai and hazuda are semantically similar, they are not always interchangeable. Thus questions arise about the level of certainty implied by the terms and also about how to articulate their differences. Although certainty is a convenient vehicle for capturing the meaning, it is problematic in explaining the differences between these synonyms since the level of certainty cannot be accurately articulated. Previous studies have attempted to explicate the differences between the two expressions by the use of qualifying terms such as ‘firm faith’, ‘reliable and firm grounds’, or ‘absolute basis for assertion’. These attempts are also problematic because the definitions they propose are not necessarily consistent with the actual usage of each expression. Alternatively, this paper adopts the framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) Theory. It addresses the issue of how to explain the speaker’s certainty by using semantic primes. The findings of the study indicate that the semantic differences between chigainai and hazuda are not concerned with the degree of the speaker’s certainty. Instead, the meanings of the expressions are illustrated by cognitive scenarios such as ‘I can’t think not like this’, or ‘I think that it can’t be not like this’. The definitions proposed by this approach clarify the differences between chigainai and hazuda, and more generally serve as a practical guide to the understanding of the epistemic markers in Japanese.

Conceptual semantics and natural semantic metalanguage theory have different goals

Conceptual semantics and natural semantic metalanguage theory have different goals

NSM Semantics versus Conceptual Semantics: Goals and standards (A response to Jackendoff)

Jackendoff's rejoinder to my response to his comments on NSM in Intercultural Pragmatics 4(3) is entitled “Conceptual semantics and natural semantic metalanguage theory have different goals.” The second paragraph of his article goes a little further: “The two theories, although they overlap on some issues of word meaning, are ultimately asking different questions and setting different standards for answers.” Here, the hint appears to be that when the questions overlap, Jackendoff's “Conceptual Semantics” (which, he says, is embedded in the broader theory of “Parallel Architecture”) sets higher standards for answers than the NSM theory does.

Reductive Paraphrase and Meaning: A Critique of Wierzbickian Semantics

This article explores some fundamental issues of definition-based lexical semantic research through a critique of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory of semantic and grammatical description (Wierzbicka 1996, Semantics. Primes and Universals, Oxford University Press, Oxford). NSM is criticized for attaching excessive importance to explanatory definition, for its adoption of the reductive requirement that a definiens be simpler than a definiendum, and for its use of ‘canonical contexts’ to disambiguate meaning. The principle of substitutability, according to which a definition of a term is accepted if it can be substituted for the term itself, is also critically examined, and the theory’s use of syntactic phenomena as evidence for polysemy is shown to be inconsistent. Finally, suggestions that NSM may be a valid analytical method for only a subpart of the lexicon are rejected.

The ethnopragmatics and semantics of ‘active metaphors’

Abstract This paper argues that ‘active metaphors’ can be sharply distinguished from other metaphorical phenomena due to their reliance on ‘metalexical awareness’, detectable by linguistic tests as well as by intuition. Far from being a natural function of the human mind or a universal of rational communication, I contend that active metaphorizing is a culture-specific speech practice which demands explication within an ethnopragmatic perspective. I propose an ethnopragmatic script (a kind of specialized cultural script) for active metaphorizing in English, and dramatize its culture-specificity by ethnopragmatic case studies of Pitjantjatjara (central Australia) and Malay. Finally, in relation to English active metaphors, I try to demonstrate that expository metaphors have determinable meanings which can be stated as extended reductive paraphrases. The analytical framework is the natural semantic metalanguage theory [C. Goddard, A. Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and Universal Grammar—Theory and Empirical Findings, 2 vols., John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2002; A. Wierzbicka, Semantics: Primes and Universals, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996a], and the associated theory of cultural scripts.

NSM and the meaning of color words

Abstract Uwe Durst (D) is to be commended for a clear exposition of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory of Anna Wierzbicka (W) and her associates. In addition to laying out clearly the assumptions of the NSM theory, D states that The …NSM model… has turned out to be a most useful theoretical and methodological framework for semantic analysis in various linguistic… domains.

The Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach to linguistic meaning

Abstract After thirty years of language-internal, as well as cross-linguistic research, the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) model developed by Anna Wierzbicka and her colleagues has turned out to be a most useful theoretical and methodological framework for semantic analysis in various linguistic, and even non-linguistic, domains. This paper argues that the NSM approach to semantics constitutes a new paradigm in linguistic research which is free from various shortcomings of other semantic frameworks. The first section of this article provides a brief survey of the historical development of NSM theory from the early seventies up to the present stage. Its theoretical and methodological principles are outlined in sections two and three, before its applications in various domains are illustrated in section four by means of examples from a number of languages.

Emotions across Languages and Cultures: Diversity and Universals (review)

Reviewed by: Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals by Anna Wierzbicka Agustinus Gianto Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals. By Anna Wierzbicka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. xi, 349. This book is about emotions that are shaped and communicated by human language, more precisely, by meanings in language. The discussions take full advantage of Wierzbicka’s now well-known theory of natural semantic metalanguage which is also explained at length in Ch. 1. In many respects this opening chapter also serves as a good introduction to the best of W’s contribution to semantics during the last 30 years of indefatigable research. The theory provides a cognitive framework for a reductive paraphrase of linguistic concepts given through a limited number of basic semantic categories consisting of 60 lexical universals. In Ch. 2 the author identifies the cognitive components of the ‘emotional universes’ encoded in English words such as joy, frustration, sadness, fear, envy, and shame. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the German concept of ‘Angst’ in Ch. 3 in order to show how the approach can be useful for the analysis of specific linguistic and cultural phenomena. Here W explains that the idea of Angst is in fact a cultural creation based on history, religion, and way of life. She also shows that much of it goes back to Martin Luther. The next two chapters discuss the physical manifestations of emotions in relation to their linguistic encoding. Ch. 4 presents a typology of human facial expressions. Eight basic meaningful facial expressions constitute the semantics of the human face; each can be linguistically and empirically described: [End Page 408] eyebrows drawn together, eyebows raised, eyes wide open, mouth corners raised, mouth corners lowered, mouth open, lips pressed together, and nose wrinkled. These facial expressions acquire their meanings thanks to the universal encoding of human emotions in language. Hence the first of these, eyebrows drawn together, universally means ‘I want to do something, but I know that I am not going to do it now’. Ch. 5 contains a detailed analysis of gestures expressing emotions as found in Russian together with brief contrastive observations about their counterparts in English. Even if many of the insights here are accessible only to those who are at home with both Russian and English, this chapter clearly shows how the repertoire of gestures and their meanings is generally bound to the way particular languages encode emotions. The rest of the book deals with further general perspectives of analysis. Ch. 6 sums up the author’s ‘cultural script’ theory which has proved useful for the study of emotions from a cross-cultural perspective. Polish, for example, operates on three elements, i.e., sincerity, warmth, and spontaneity as opposed to tact, considerateness, and kindness of Anglo- American culture. In Ch. 7 the author gives some final observations about emotional universals found in the languages of the world. While several parts of the book have appeared elsewhere in one form or another, this volume nevertheless represents the state of the art of the interdisciplinary approach to semantics that the author has almost single-handedly cultivated in the last 30 years with great success. Agustinus Gianto Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome Copyright © 2001 Linguistic Society of America

Suppletion, lexical meaning, semantic primitives, and translation data

The natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) theory developed in such research as Wierzbicka (1972, 1980, 1994a) and Goddard (1994, 1998) has taken SAY to be a semantic primitive without specifying exactly which semantic domains it covers. Empirical research shows, however, that the words that might intuitively be taken as the exponents of SAY in English (say), Hebrew ('amar), Japanese (iu), and Spanish (decir) very frequently do not translate as each other, so that we cannot simply say that SAY = say = 'amar = iu = decir. In order to reconcile the translation data with a theory of universal primitive meaning, it is necessary to posit a number of cases of suppletion and polysemy, the former to account for automatic, non-meaning-based alternations between allolexes reflecting a single semantic primitive, the latter to account for meaning-based alternations between different lexemes. The resulting analysis is relatively straightforward and plausible, though some aspects of it may seem initially surprising, for example that tell has two distinct meanings (tell a story vs. tell me what you want), that tell in the latter meaning alternates allolexically with say, and that ask can serve as an exponent of SAY when the clause it introduces is formally a question but does not pragmatically function as a question.

Typological comparison and linguistic areas: some introductory remarks

This paper presents a semantic analysis of two epistemic markers in Japanese—chigainai and hazuda. These are often translated as I am sure, must, or should in English, and they indicate the speaker’s certainty about the truth or falsehood of a proposition. While chigainai and hazuda are semantically similar, they are not always interchangeable. Thus questions arise about the level of certainty implied by the terms and also about how to articulate their differences. Although certainty is a convenient vehicle for capturing the meaning, it is problematic in explaining the differences between these synonyms since the level of certainty cannot be accurately articulated. Previous studies have attempted to explicate the differences between the two expressions by the use of qualifying terms such as ‘firm faith’, ‘reliable and firm grounds’, or ‘absolute basis for assertion’. These attempts are also problematic because the definitions they propose are not necessarily consistent with the actual usage of each expression. Alternatively, this paper adopts the framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) Theory. It addresses the issue of how to explain the speaker’s certainty by using semantic primes. The findings of the study indicate that the semantic differences between chigainai and hazuda are not concerned with the degree of the speaker’s certainty. Instead, the meanings of the expressions are illustrated by cognitive scenarios such as ‘I can’t think not like this’, or ‘I think that it can’t be not like this’. The definitions proposed by this approach clarify the differences between chigainai and hazuda, and more generally serve as a practical guide to the understanding of the epistemic markers in Japanese.

BAD ARGUMENTS AGAINST SEMANTIC PRIMITIVES

Semantic primitives have fallen on hard times. Though their existence was once widely accepted in linguistics, a variety of counter-arguments have since engendered widespread scepticism. This paper examines a selection of anti-primitives arguments with the aim of showing that they fail to apply to the most resilient and well-developed theory of semantic primitives, namely, Anna Wierzbicka's natural semantic metalanguage theory. The most serious of the faulty arguments invalidly link semantic primitives with objectivism, or with abstractness and non-verifiability, or with implausible views about language acquisition or language processing. Others rely on misanalysed linguistic facts, or simply fail to come to grips with the most credible pro-primitives position. The anti-primitives arguments are drawn from a broad range of sources, including the philosophy of language, psycholinguistics, language acquisition studies, and cognitive linguistics

Semantic primitives of time and space in Hong Kong Cantonese

This paper takes a subset of the semantic primitives currently proposed in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory (Wierzbicka, 1996) and addresses two questions: Do these meanings have lexical equivalents in Cantonese? If so, does their combinatorial syntax conform to Wierzbicka's hypotheses? The temporal primitives ( when/time, now, before, after, a long time, a short time) are all found to have clear Cantonese exponents which can be combined as predicted with other metalanguage elements—but for two exceptions: the combinations a very short time and before/after now are apparently not possible in Cantonese. We also argue that the Cantonese evidence suggests that ‘when-time’ (as in the phrase at this time) and ‘frequency time’ (as in it happened two times) may be distinct semantic primes. As for the spatial primitives ( where/place, here, near, far, inside, side, above, below), they all appear to have Cantonese exponents with the predicted syntax, but the tentative proposal that on may be a universal primitive is challenged by the apparent lack of an equivalent expression in Cantonese.

The semantics of coming and going

It is often assumed that the English motion verbs come and go can be glossed as motion towards-the-speaker and ‘motion not-towards-the-speaker’, respectively. This paper proposes alternative semantic analyses which are more complex, but also, it is argued, more descriptively adequate and more explanatory. The semantic framework is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach developed by Anna Wierzbicka, in which meanings are stated as explanatory paraphrases (explications) couched in a small, standardised and translatable metalanguage based on natural language. A single explication is advanced for come, and it is shown that this unitary meaning is compatible with the broad range of ‘appropriateness conditions’ on its use (cf. Fillmore 1966, 1975, 1983). The same applies to go. A novel feature of the proposed analysis for come is that it does not rely on the conventional notion that ‘deictic projection’ is a pragmatic phenomenon. Instead the potential for ‘deictic projection’ is analysed as flowing directly from the lexical semantics of come. This approach, it is argued, enables an improved account of semantic differences between near equivalents for come and go in various languages. The paper is structured as follows. §1 gives general background on the NSM theory. §2 reviews some problems with the semantics of motion, and gives orientation on how they are approached within the NSM framework. §3 and §4 address the semantics of English go and come, respectively. Concluding remarks form §5.

Semantic primes and grammatical categories*

This paper argues that all 55 of the semantic primes currently posited in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory (Wierzbicka 1996) are frequently found as components of grammatically encoded meanings. Examples are taken from a wide variety of the world's languages, and include phenomena such as pronoun systems, indefinites, classifiers, reflexives, experiencer constructions, evidentials, locational deixis, tense systems, diminutives and augmentatives, and modality. The study seeks to contribute towards the development of a more rigorous semantic basis for grammatical typology, by demonstrating that the proposed semantic metalanguage is able to encompass and explicate a wide variety of grammaticalised meanings. This finding also cuts across a commonly‐held view that, for the most part, grammatical semantics and lexical semantics call for rather different descriptive tool‐kits.