Natural semantic metalanguage
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The natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) is a linguistic theory based on the conception of Polish professor Andrzej Bogusławski. The theory was formally developed by Anna Wierzbicka at Warsaw University and later at the Australian National University in the early 1970s, and Cliff Goddard at Australia's Griffith University.
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Approach
The natural semantic metalanguage theory attempts to reduce the semantics of all lexicons down to a restricted set of semantic primitives, or primes. Primes are universal in that they have the same translation in every language, and they are primitive in that they cannot be defined using other words. Primes are ordered together to form explications, which are descriptions of semantic representations consisting solely of primes.
Research in the NSM approach deals extensively with language and cognition, and language and culture. Key areas of research include lexical semantics, grammatical semantics, phraseology and pragmatics, as well as cross-cultural communication.
Languages studied in the NSM-framework include English, Russian, Polish, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Malay, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Ewe, Wolof, East Cree, Koromu, and a large number of creole languages including Trinidadian creole, Bislama and Tok Pisin.
Semantic primes
Semantic primes (also known as semantic primitives) are concepts that are universal and primitive. Universal indicates that they can be translated literally into any known language and retain their semantic representation. They are primitive as they are proposed to be the most simple linguistic concepts and are unable to be defined using simpler terms
Proponents of the NSM theory argue that every language shares a core vocabulary of concepts. In 1994 and 2002, Goddard and Wierzbicka studied languages across the globe and found strong evidence supporting this argument.
Wierzbicka's 1972 study proposed 14 semantic primes. That number was expanded to 60 in 2002 by Wierzbicka and Goddard, and the current agreed-upon number is 63, as put forth by Goddard in 2010.
Each language's translations of the semantic primes are called exponents. Below is a list of English exponents, or the English translation of the semantic primes. It is important to note that some of the exponents in the following list are polysemous and can be associated with meanings in English (and other languages) that are not shared. However, when used as an exponent in the Natural semantic metalanguage, it is only the prime concept which is identified as universal.
The following is a list of English exponents of semantic primes:
- substantives
- I, YOU, SOMEONE, PEOPLE, SOMETHING/THING, BODY
- relational substantives
- KIND, PART
- determiners
- THIS, THE SAME, OTHER/ELSE
- quantifiers
- ONE, TWO, MUCH/MANY, SOME, ALL
- evaluators
- GOOD, BAD
- descriptors
- BIG, SMALL
- mental predicates
- THINK, KNOW, WANT, FEEL, SEE, HEAR
- speech
- SAY, WORDS, TRUE
- actions, events, movement, contact
- DO, HAPPEN, MOVE, TOUCH
- location, existence, possession, specification
- BE (SOMEWHERE), THERE IS, HAVE, BE (SOMEONE/SOMETHING)
- life and death
- LIVE, DIE
- time
- WHEN/TIME, NOW, BEFORE, AFTER, A LONG TIME, A SHORT TIME, FOR SOME TIME, MOMENT
- space
- WHERE/PLACE, HERE, ABOVE, BELOW, FAR, NEAR, SIDE, INSIDE
- logical concepts
- NOT, MAYBE, CAN, BECAUSE, IF
- intensifier, augmentor
- VERY, MORE
- similarity
- LIKE/WAY
NSM Syntax
NSM primes can be combined in a limited set of syntactic frames that are also universal. These valency options specify the specific types of grammatical functions that can be combined with the primes. While these combinations can be realised differently in other languages, it is believed that the meanings expressed by these syntactic combinations are universal.
Example of valency frames for SAY (from Semantic Analysis)
someone said something→[minimal frame]
someone said: '––'→[direct speech]
someone said something to someone→[plus 'addressee']
someone said something about something/someone→[plus 'locutionary topic']
Explication
A semantic analysis in the NSM approach results in a reductive paraphrase called an explication that captures the meaning of the concept explicated . An ideal explication can be substituted for the original expression in context without change of meaning.
E.g., Someone X killed someone Y:
someone X did something to someone else Y
because of this, something happened to Y at the same time
because of this, something happened to Y's body
because of this, after this Y was not living anymore
See also
