Linguistics and Ancient Languages
Morteza Taghavi
Abstract
Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach is one of the most outstanding attempts at contemporary semantics to analyze and describe meaning cross-culturally, originated by Anna Wierzbicka. This approach claims that there are a number of universal concepts, called ‘semantic primitives’, ...
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Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach is one of the most outstanding attempts at contemporary semantics to analyze and describe meaning cross-culturally, originated by Anna Wierzbicka. This approach claims that there are a number of universal concepts, called ‘semantic primitives’, through which any simple or complex meaning in any language can be described. It may further act as a tool for cutting across the differentiating borders of various cultures with the aim of semantic description and cross-cultural semantics. Moreover, many works have applied this approach to more than 30 languages, adding to the list of semantic primes. The present paper intends to review Wierzbicka’s book entitled “Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: The Semantics of Human Interaction” (2003), aiming at presenting her framework, looking through chapters and discussing the pros and cons and basic tenets of her approach. Finally, the paper concludes that the NSM approach is certainly promising and valuable for cross-linguistic and cross-cultural descriptions; however, a number of groundless claims should be avoided.
