Linguistics, Vol. 4 No. 2, 2003.
Original scientific paper
NSM within the cognitive linguistics movement: Bridging some gaps
Marija M. Brala
; University of Trieste & University of Rijeka
Abstract
Ever since the Chomskyan views revolutionised the scientific study of
language, we have been expecting to see groundbreaking results relative to the
workings of the human language faculty. Unfortunately for the discipline, this
has not been the case. This paper is structured around one one-word question:
why? Departing from some general considerations about cognitive linguistics,
and some specific considerations about the Natural Semantic Metalanguage
(NSM), this paper attempts to: a. establish the common ground(s) shared by
most approaches currently being developed within the cognitive linguistic
paradigm; b. posit some key arguments supporting the thesis that semantic and
conceptual universals should corroborate most if not all theses relative to
linguistic conceptualisation; c. try and bridge some gaps between a number of
conceptual theories of language, arguing that quite a few divergences between
frameworks and interpretations are due to opacity of criteria, methodologies
and even just terminology; d. suggest that NSM has much to offer to
linguistics in terms of solving the above problems. It is argued that a more
tightly knit paradigm would allow for a more efficient interpretation of data
stemming from research in cognitive linguistics, and which is, as shown in the
paper, already yielding quite a few consistent patterns.
Keywords
Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM); cognitive linguistic paradigm; semantic universals; conceptual primitives
Hrčak ID:
31319
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2003.
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