Semantics ' Primes and Universals '

ISBN-13: 9780198700036 / Angielski / Miękka / 1996 / 512 str.

Anna Wierzbicka

Opis

Conceptual primitives and semantic universals are the cornerstones of a semantic theory which Anna Wierzbicka has been developing for many years. Semantics: Primes and Universals is a major synthesis of her work, presenting a full and systematic exposition of that theory in a non-technical and readable way. It delineates a full set of universal concepts, as they have emerged from large-scale investigations across a wide range of languages undertaken by the author and her colleagues. On the basis of empirical cross-linguistic studies it vindicates the old notion of the "psychic unity of mankind," while at the same time offering a framework for the rigorous description of different languages and cultures.

Recenzje

SCC is a welcome addition to Wierzbicka's inexhaustible semantic explications, revealing as it does a general theory and application that can be challenged, tested, and modified. The wide range of topics is typical of those that anyone involved in a cross-cultural work would need to explore, explain and translate ... such detailed analysis can help the native speakers of a language to become more aware of the semantic implications of the words and expressions that they use.