Wierzbicka Anna. Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words (English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese)

Oxford University Press, 1997. — x, 317 p. — ISBN: 0-19-508835-2; ISBN: 0-19-508836-0.This book develops the dual themes that languages can differ widely in their vocabularies, and are also sensitive indices to the cultures to which they belong. Wierzbicka seeks to demonstrate that every language has "key concepts," expressed in "key words," which reflect the core values of a given culture. She shows that cultures can be revealingly studied, compared, and explained to outsiders through their key concepts, and that the analytical framework necessary for this purpose is provided by the "natural semantic metalanguage," based on lexical universals, that the author and colleagues have developed on the basis of wide-ranging cross-linguistic investigations. Appealing to anthropologists, psychologists, and philosophers as well as linguists, this book demonstrates that cultural patterns can be studied in a verifiable, rigorous, and non-speculative way, on the basis of empirical evidence and in a coherent theoretical framework.Cultural analysis and linguistic semantics
Words and cultures
Different words, different ways of thinking?
Cultural elaboration and the lexicon
Word frequencies and cultures
Key words and core cultural values
"Culture"—a perilous idea?
Linguistic and conceptual universals
"Natural semantic metalanguage": Exit from BabelLexicon as a Key to Ethno-Sociology and Cultural Psychology: Patterns of "Friendship" Across Cultures
"Friendship"-a human universal?
The changing meaning of the English word friend
Patterns of "friendship" in Russian culture
Patterns of "friendship" in Polish culture
Mate—a key to Australian cultureAppendix: Summary of the Formulae
Lexicon as a Key to Ethno-Philosophy, History, and Politics: "Freedom" in Latin, English, Russian, and Polish
Freedom'—a culture-specific concept
Libertas
Freedom
Liberty
The older meaning of freedom
Svoboda
Volja
WolnośćAppendix: Summary of the Formulae
Lexicon as a Key to History, Nation, and Society: "Homeland" and "Fatherland" in German, Polish, and Russian
Different "homelands," different "patriotisms"
Heimat
Vaterland
Ojczyzna
RodinaAppendix: Summary of the Formulae
Australian Key Words and Core Cultural Values
"Australian culture"
Australian speech act verbs
Australian "b-words" (swearwords)Appendix: Summary of the Formulae
Japanese Key Words and Core Cultural Values
How "unique" is Japanese culture?
Amae
Enryo
Wa
On
Girl
Seishin
OmoiyariAppendix: Summary of the Formulae