Theory and empirical findings: A response to Jackendoff
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Anna Wierzbicka
She is the author of numerous books, including
Cross-Cultural Pragmatics (Mouton de Gruyter 1991; 2d edition 2003),Semantics: Primes and Universals (Oxford University Press 1996),Emotions Across Languages and Cultures: Diversity and Universals (Cambridge University Press 1999), andEnglish: Meaning and Culture (Oxford University Press 2006).
Abstract
In his recent interview with Ray Jackendoff (2006), Istvan Kecskes asked: “How do your ‘semantic primitives’ relate to Wierzbicka's ‘semantic primes’ described in her natural semantic metalanguage [NSM] theory (Wierzbicka 1996)?” After an acknowledgment that “Wierzbicka has offered many insightful discussions of word meaning,” Jackendoff more or less dismissed NSM semantics. “Conceptual Semantics,” (i.e., his own approach) he said, “is concerned with how linguistic utterances are related to human cognition, where cognition is a human capacity that is to a considerable degree independent of language (…). Wierzbicka, by contrast, stays very close to the linguistic ground. She analyzes words simply in terms of other words, so she never establishes any connection with cognitive capacities outside language.”
About the author
She is the author of numerous books, including Cross-Cultural Pragmatics (Mouton de Gruyter 1991; 2d edition 2003), Semantics: Primes and Universals (Oxford University Press 1996), Emotions Across Languages and Cultures: Diversity and Universals (Cambridge University Press 1999), and English: Meaning and Culture (Oxford University Press 2006).
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- The pragmatics of advice giving: Cross-cultural perspectives
- Multilinguals' language choice for mental calculation
- Insisting: a goal-oriented or a chatting interactional practice? One aspect of Syrian service encounters
- Theory and empirical findings: A response to Jackendoff
- Conceptual semantics and natural semantic metalanguage theory have different goals
- Book reviews
- Contributors to this issue
Articles in the same Issue
- The pragmatics of advice giving: Cross-cultural perspectives
- Multilinguals' language choice for mental calculation
- Insisting: a goal-oriented or a chatting interactional practice? One aspect of Syrian service encounters
- Theory and empirical findings: A response to Jackendoff
- Conceptual semantics and natural semantic metalanguage theory have different goals
- Book reviews
- Contributors to this issue
