1. Semantic Analysis and Universal Meaning
Presented By: Kris Mitchell

2. Key Concepts in Semantic Analysis
Metalanguage
Semantic Primitives (primes)
Universality
Ethnocentrism and Anglocentrism
Linguistic vs Encyclopedia Knowledge
Semantics vs Pragmatics

3. Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM)
Anna Wierzbicka – Australian National University
Cliff Goddard – Griffith University
Key Concepts
Primes/Molecules/Exponents/Allolexy
Reductive Paraphrase
Syntax
Cultural Scripts
Explications

4. Cultural Scripts Anglo cultural script for ‘personal autonomy’
1. many people think like this:
2. when someone does something, it is good if this someone can think about it like this:
3. ‘I am doing this because I want to do it’
(Goddard 2011, p. 397 & Goddard & Wierzbicka 2007, p. 112)
2. ‘everyone can do what they want to do’
3. ‘if it is not bad for other people’
(Goddard 2000, p. 83)

5. Cultural Scripts
Anglo cultural script for a ‘suggestive’ approach to influencing others
1. many people think like this:
2. when I want someone to do something,
3. it can be good if I say something like this to someone:
4. ‘maybe you will want to think about it
5. maybe if you think about it, you will want to do it’
(Goddard 2008, p. 18)

6. Cultural Scripts
Cultural Script for Russian ‘expressiveness’(iskrennost)
People think like this:
It is good if a person wants other people to know what this person thinks
It is good if a person wants other people to know what this person feels
(Goddard & Wierzbicka 2007, )
Cultural Script for Polish ‘uninhibited expression’
I want people to know how I feel
When I feel something good, I want to say something
When I feel something bad, I want to say something
If I feel something good when I think about you, I want you to know it
I want people to know what I think
When I think that someone thinks something bad, I want to say it to this person
(Goddard & Wierzbicka 1997, p )

7. Cultural Scripts Cultural Scripts for Japanese ‘enryo’
1. often it is good not to say anything to other people
2. it is not good to say things like this to other people:
3. ‘I want this’, ‘I don’t want this’
4. ‘I think this’, ‘I don’t think this’
5. if I say things like this, someone could feel something bad
1. before I say something to someone
2. it is good to think something like this:
3. ‘I can’t say all that I think
4. if I do, someone could feel something bad’
(Goddard & Wierzbicka 1997, p. 238 & Goddard 2011, p ))

8. Explications: Emotion Words
Explication for German ‘glucklich’ and French ‘heureux’
Someone X was glucklich (heureux) at this time
1. someone X thought like this at this time:
2. ‘something very good is happening to me now
3. this is very good
4. things like this don’t often happen to people
5. I can’t want anything more now’
6. because of this, this someone felt something very good at this time
7. like someone can feel when they think like this
(Goddard 2011, p. 111)

9. Explications: Emotion Words
Explication for the Chinese ‘bei’
Someone X felt ‘bei’ at this time:
1. someone X felt something very bad
2. like someone can feel when they think like this
3. ‘something bad happened now
4. I know that after this good things will not happen anymore
5. I don’t want things like this to happen
6. I want to do something if I can
7. I know that I can’t do anything
8. because I know that no one can do anything when things like this happen’
9. this someone felt something like this, because this someone thought like this
(Ye 2001, p. 364 & Goddard & Schalley 2010, p. 109)

10. Explications: Emotion Words
Explication for Malay ‘malu’
X feels ‘malu’
X feels something bad because X thinks like this:
‘people can know something about me
people can think something bad about me because of this
people can say something bad about me because of this
I don’t want this
because X feels like this, X doesn’t want to be near other people
It is good if people can feel something like this
(Goddard 2005, p )

11. Problems for Second Language Learners
Dictionary Problems
Obscurity
Circularity
Superfluous Components/Disjunctions/Open Endedness
Too Broad
Too Narrow
Polysemy vs Generality
The Synonym Trap
Similarities
Differences
Contexts

12. References
Dale, R., Moisl, H. & Somers, H. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of natural language processing, New York: Marcel Dekker. Harkins, J. & Wierbicka, A. (Eds.). (2001). Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Goddard, C. (1997). Contrastive semantics and cultural psychology: ‘Surprise’ in Malay and English. Culture and Psychology, 3(2), Goddard, C. (1998). Bad arguments against semantic primitives. Theoretical Linguistics, 24(2/3), Goddard, C. (2000). ‘Cultural scripts’ and communicative style in Malay (Bahasa Melayu). Anthropological Linguistics 42(1), Goddard, C. (2005). The languages of east and southeast Asia: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Goddard, C. (2011). Semantic analysis: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Goddard, C. & Schalley, A. C. (2010). Semantic analysis. In R. Dale, H. Moisl & H. Somers (eds.), Handbook of natural language processing (p ), New York: Marcel Dekker. Goddard, C. & Wierzbicka, A. (1997). Discourse and culture. In T. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as social interaction (pp ). London: Sage. Goddard, C. & Wierzbicka, A. (2007). Semantic primes and cultural scripts in language learning and intercultural communication. In F. Sharifan & G. B. Palmer (eds.), Applied cultural linguistics: Implications for second language learning and intercultural communication, (p ), Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. Sharifan, F. & Palmer, G. B. (eds.). (2007). Applied cultural linguistics: Implications for second language learning and intercultural communication, Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Slabakova, R. (2010) Semantic theory and second language acguisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30(1), p Ye, Z. (2001). An inquiry into ‘sadness’ in Chinese. In J. Harkins & A. Wierzbicka (Eds.), Emotions in crosslinguistic perspective (p ). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Van Dijk, T. (Ed.). (1997). Discourse as social interaction. London: Sage.

13. Appendix A: Cultural Scripts
Cultural Script for Malay ‘nasihat’
1. many people think like this:
2. it is good if someone can say things like these to people
3. ‘I know what it is good for you to do
4. it will be good if you do this’
(Goddard & Wierzbicka 1997, p. 238)
Cultural Script for Malay ‘menghormati’
X thinks good things about Y
X thinks like this about Y
‘Y is someone above me
I don’t want Y to think anything bad about me’
X wants Y to know this
Because of this, when X is with Y
X does some things, X does not do some other things
X says some things, X does not say some other things
X says some words, X does not say some other words
(Goddard 2000, p )

14. Appendix A: Cultural Scripts
Cultural Script for Korean ‘yaeyo’
People think like this:
When I am with some people, I have to think like this:
‘this person is not someone like me
this person is someone above me
because I am with this person now I cannot do some things, I cannot say some things, I cannot say some words
If this person says to me: ‘I want you to do something’,
I can’t say to this person: ‘I don’t want to do it’
If this person wants me to do something, it will be good if I do it
It will be very bad if this person feels something bad because of me
(Goddard & Wierzbicka 2007, )

15. Appendix B: 4 Surprise Words in English
Surprised: feeling or showing surprise (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)
X was surprised
X thought something like this:
‘something happened now
I didn’t think this would happen’
X felt something because of this
(Goddard 1997, p. 171)
Amazed: very surprised (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)
X was amazed
I didn’t think something like this could happen’

16. Appendix B: 4 Surprise Words in English
Shocked: surprised and upset; showing that somebody feels surprised and upset (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)
X was shocked
X thought something like this:
‘I now know something very bad happened
I didn’t think something like this would happen
I don’t know what I can think’
X felt something bad because of this
Startled: slightly shocked or frightened because of a sudden surprise (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)
X was startled
something happened near X
X didn’t know this would happen
because of this something happened to X
X’s body moved for a very short time, not because X wanted it to move
sometimes a person’s body can move like this
when this person thinks: ‘something bad can happen to me now’