Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words
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Weissbort and Eysteinsson's collection is nothing less than magnificent - both in terms of its size and of its scope. (Ida Klitgard, Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, Vol. 14:2 )
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Wierzbicka demonstrates that every language has its "key concepts" (expressed in key words) and that these concepts reflect the core values of the culture in question. Examining empirical evidence from five languages, and using her own "natural semantic metalanguage" to provide an analytical framework, she shows that cultures can be revealingly studied, compared and explained to outsiders through their key concepts.
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In his introduction to Vocabularies of Public Life (1992) the well-known sociologist of culture Robert Wuthnow observes: "Perhaps more than at any other time in the present century, cultural analysis lies at the center of human sciences." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In his introduction to Vocabularies of Public Life (1992) the well-known sociologist of culture Robert Wuthnow observes: "Perhaps more than at any other time in the present century, cultural analysis lies at the center of human sciences." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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2 reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Fascinating stuff.
21 Oct 1999
Format:Paperback
Contrary to the previous reviewer's opinion, I found this book fascinating. I don't have a Ph.D. in linguistics either.
Her claim is *not* that one cannot understand the key words of a culture without being immersed in the culture, only that one cannot understnad the key words of a culture by means of simplistic translations or definitions. She attempts to provide careful and precise definitions, given in what she calls the "Natural Semantic Metalanguage" -- an extremely restricted vocabulary consisting of words that, as far as she has been able to tell via research, have equivalents in every natural language.
I don't buy all of her "Natural Semantic Metalanguage" theories (for which see her other book _Semantics: Primes and Universals_) but it sure is a useful tool for the job she's doing here.
5 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Wierzbicka's academic fluff chokes meanings.
16 Mar 1999
Format:Paperback
I read this book for an athropology class at a western private university. I have to say that while Wierzbicka's domination of different languages is impressive, her "fluffy" explanations of the key words in the book tend to bore the reader, thus leaving him/her more confused about the meanings of the key words than before. Furthermore, her findings tend to undermine her own premise that a culture's key words cannot be understood except by understanding the culture itself. No one person can claim to explain--as she does--what certain words mean within their cultural realm without having been immmersed totally in that culture (usually born and raised). Thus, one is lead to believe that even she doesn't understand the "key words" totally, and her credibility is therefore undermined. I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone with less than a Ph.D. in Linguistics.
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