Contrastive semantics of physical activity verbs: 'Cutting' and 'chopping' in English, Polish, and Japanese

Title
Contrastive semantics of physical activity verbs: 'Cutting' and 'chopping' in English, Polish, and Japanese
Publication Date
2009
Author(s)
Goddard, Cliff
Wierzbicka, Anna
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1016/j.langsci.2007.10.002
UNE publication id
une:4532
Abstract
This study explores the contrastive lexical semantics of verbs comparable to 'cut' and 'chop' in three languages (English, Polish, and Japanese), using the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) technique of semantic analysis. It proposes a sixpart semantic template, and argues that this template can serve as a basis for a lexical typology of complex physical activity verbs in general. At the same time, it argues that language-specific aspects of the semantics are often culturally motivated. Nine verbs are examined (English 'cut', 'chop', 'slice', Polish 'ciąć' "cut", 'krajać' "cut/slice", 'obcinać' "cut around", 'rąbać' "chop", Japanese 'kiru' "cut", 'kizamu' "chop"), and NSM explications are proposed for each one based on its range of use in natural contexts, thus capturing the semantic similarities and differences in fine-grained detail.
Link
Citation
Language Sciences, 31(1), p. 60-96
ISSN
1873-5746
0388-0001
Start page
60
End page
96

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