TY - CHAP
T1 - Universal human concepts as a basis for contrastive linguistic semantics
AU - Goddard, Cliff
AU - Wierzbicka, Anna
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - This study sets out to demonstrate that the NSM metalanguage of semantic primes provides a stable language-neutral medium for fine-grained contrastive semantic analysis, in both the lexical and grammatical domains. The lexical examples are drawn from "yearning-missing" words in English, Polish, Russian and Spanish, while the grammatical examples contrast the Spanish diminutive with the hypocoristic "diminutive" of Australian English. We show that the technique of explication (reductive paraphrase) into semantic primes makes it possible to pin down subtle meaning differences which cannot be captured using normal translation or grammatical labels. Explications for the Polish, Russian and Spanish examples are presented both in English and in the language concerned, thus establishing that the metalanguage being used is transposable across languages.
AB - This study sets out to demonstrate that the NSM metalanguage of semantic primes provides a stable language-neutral medium for fine-grained contrastive semantic analysis, in both the lexical and grammatical domains. The lexical examples are drawn from "yearning-missing" words in English, Polish, Russian and Spanish, while the grammatical examples contrast the Spanish diminutive with the hypocoristic "diminutive" of Australian English. We show that the technique of explication (reductive paraphrase) into semantic primes makes it possible to pin down subtle meaning differences which cannot be captured using normal translation or grammatical labels. Explications for the Polish, Russian and Spanish examples are presented both in English and in the language concerned, thus establishing that the metalanguage being used is transposable across languages.
KW - Linguistic Structures (incl Grammar, Phonology, Lexicon, Semantics)
UR - http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19512180
UR - http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SFSL%2060&artid=752120507
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9027215715
SN - 9789027215710
T3 - Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics
SP - 205
EP - 226
BT - Current Trends in Contrastive Linguistics: Functional and Cognitive Perspectives
A2 - de los Ángeles Gómez González, María
A2 - Lachlan Mackenzie, J
A2 - M. González Álvarez, Elsa
PB - John Benjamins Publishing Company
CY - Amsterdam, Netherlands
ER -