| Semantics, Culture, and Cognition: Universal Human Concepts in Culture-Specific Configurations Contributor(s): Wierzbicka, Anna (Author) |
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ISBN: 0195073266 ISBN-13: 9780195073263 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $143.55 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 1992 Annotation: Not everything that can be said in one language can be said in another. The lexicons of different languages seem to suggest different conceptual universes. Investigating cultures from a universal, language-independent perspective, this book rejects analytical tools derived from the English language and Anglo culture and proposes instead a "natural semantic metalanguage" formulated in English words but based on lexical universals. The outcome of two and a half decades of research, the metalanguage is made up of universal semantic primitives in terms of which all meanings--including the most culture-specific ones--can be described and compared in a precise and illuminating way. Integrating insights from linguistics, cultural anthropology, and cognitive psychology, and written in simple, non-technical language, Semantics, Culture, and Cognition is accessible not only to scholars and students, but also to the general reader interested in semantics and the relationship between language and culture. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - Semantics |
| Dewey: 401.43 |
| LCCN: 91-22152 |
| Lexile Measure: 1420 |
| Physical Information: 1.27" H x 6.07" W x 9.15" (1.56 lbs) 496 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Not everything that can be said in one language can be said in another. The lexicons of different languages seem to suggest different conceptual universes. Investigating cultures from a universal, language-independent perspective, this book rejects analytical tools derived from the English language and Anglo culture and proposes instead a natural semantic metalanguage formulated in English words but based on lexical universals. The outcome of two and a half decades of research, the metalanguage is made up of universal semantic primitives in terms of which all meanings--including the most culture-specific ones--can be described and compared in a precise and illuminating way. Integrating insights from linguistics, cultural anthropology, and cognitive psychology, and written in simple, non-technical language, Semantics, Culture, and Cognition is accessible not only to scholars and students, but also to the general reader interested in semantics and the relationship between language and culture. |