Semantic primes and conceptual ontology

Abstract

The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to language analysis, originated by Anna Wierzbicka (1972, 1996; Goddard and Wierzbicka 1994, 2002), claims to have identified some 65 universal semantic primes. As explained below, they can be grouped in various ways, using syntactic and/or "thematic" criteria. The present study concentrates on a set of primes which may be termed "substantive", and which form the foundation of the nominal lexicon. After an introduction in Section 1., Section 2. gives an account of the NSM substantive primes. Section 3. addresses the question of how major divisions within the nominal vocabulary are constructed either exclusively from semantic primes, or from primes in combination with semantic molecules. Concluding remarks form Section 4.