Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words
English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese
1st Edition
Published on 7. August 1997
328 pages
978-0-19-535849-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book develops the dual themes that languages can differ widely in their vocabularies, and are also sensitive indices to the cultures to which they belong. Wierzbicka seeks to demonstrate that every language has "key concepts," expressed in "key words," which reflect the core values of a given culture. She shows that cultures can be revealingly studied, compared, and explained to outsiders through their key concepts, and that the analytical framework necessary for this purpose is provided by the "natural semantic metalanguage," based on lexical universals, that the author and colleagues have developed on the basis of wide-ranging cross-linguistic investigations. Appealing to anthropologists, psychologists, and philosophers as well as linguists, this book demonstrates that cultural patterns can be studied in a verifiable, rigorous, and non-speculative way, on the basis of empirical evidence and in a coherent theoretical framework.
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Wierzbicka
Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words
English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese
Book
11/1997
Oxford University Press Inc
€171.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Dr. Anna Wierzbicka is Professor of Linguistics at the Australian National University. She has lectured extensively at universities in Europe, America, and Japan, and is the author of many books, including Semantics: Primes and Universals (OUP, 1996) and Semantics, Culture, and Cognition: Universal Human Concepts in Human-Specific Configurations (OUP, 1992).
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 1. Cultural analysis and linguistic semantics
- 2. Words and cultures
- 3. Different words, different ways of thinking?
- 4. Cultural elaboration and the lexicon
- 5. Word frequencies and cultures
- 6. Key words and core cultural values
- 7. "Culture"-a perilous idea?
- 8. Linguistic and conceptual universals
- 9. "Natural semantic metalanguage": Exit from Babel
- 10. Conclusion
- 2. Lexicon as a Key to Ethno-Sociology and Cultural Psychology: Patterns of "Friendship" Across Cultures
- 1. "Friendship"-a human universal?
- 2. The changing meaning of the English word friend
- 3. Patterns of "friendship" in Russian culture
- 4. Patterns of "friendship" in Polish culture
- 5. Mate-a key to Australian culture
- 6. Conclusion
- Appendix: Summary of the Formulae
- 3. Lexicon as a Key to Ethno-Philosophy, History, and Politics: "Freedom" in Latin, English, Russian, and Polish
- 1. 'Freedom'-a culture-specific concept
- 2. Libertas
- 3. Freedom
- 4. Liberty
- 5. The older meaning of freedom
- 6. Svoboda
- 7. Volja
- 8. Wolnosc
- 9. Conclusion
- Appendix: Summary of the Formulae
- 4. Lexicon as a Key to History, Nation, and Society: "Homeland" and "Fatherland" in German, Polish, and Russian
- 1. Different "homelands," different "patriotisms
- 2. Heimat
- 3. Vaterland
- 4. Ojczyzna
- 5. Rodina
- 6. Conclusion
- Appendix: Summary of the Formulae
- 5. Australian Key Words and Core Cultural Values
- 1. "Australian culture
- 2. Australian speech act verbs
- 3. Australian "b-words" (swearwords)
- 4. Conclusion
- Appendix: Summary of the Formulae
- 6. Japanese Key Words and Core Cultural Values
- 1. How "unique" is Japanese culture?
- 2. Amae
- 3. Enryo
- 4. Wa
- 5. On
- 6. Giri
- 7. Seishin
- 8. Omoiyari
- 9. Conclusion
- Appendix: Summary of the Formulae
- Notes
- References
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
