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Semantic primes and conceptual ontology

  • Cliff Goddard

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterResearch

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to language analysis, originated by Anna Wierzbicka (1972, 1996; Goddard and Wierzbicka 1994, 2002), claims to have identified some 65 universal semantic primes. As explained below, they can be grouped in various ways, using syntactic and/or "thematic" criteria. The present study concentrates on a set of primes which may be termed "substantive", and which form the foundation of the nominal lexicon. After an introduction in Section 1., Section 2. gives an account of the NSM substantive primes. Section 3. addresses the question of how major divisions within the nominal vocabulary are constructed either exclusively from semantic primes, or from primes in combination with semantic molecules. Concluding remarks form Section 4.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationOntolinguistics: how ontological status shapes the linguistic coding of concepts
    EditorsAndrea C Schalley, Dietmar Zaefferer
    Place of PublicationBerlin, Germany
    PublisherMouton de Gruyter
    Pages145-173
    Edition1
    ISBN (Print)9783110189971
    Publication statusPublished - 2007

    Publication series

    NameTrends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]
    Number176

    Keywords

    • Linguistic Structures (incl Grammar, Phonology, Lexicon, Semantics)

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