Semantics : Primes and Universals (St. in Classification Data Analysis) - Softcover

Wierzbicka, Anna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198700032 ISBN 13: 9780198700036

Publisher: Oxford University Press UK, 1996

Synopsis

This book provides a synthesis of Wierzbicka's theory of meaning, which is based on conceptual primitives and semantic universals, using empirical findings from a wide range of languages. While addressed primarily to linguists, the book deals with highly topical and controversial issues of central importance to several disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, and philosophy. - ;Conceptual primitives and semantic universals are the cornerstones of a semantic theory which Anna Wierzbicka has been developing for many years. Semantics: Primes and Universals is a major synthesis of her work, presenting a full and systematic exposition of that theory in a non-technical and readable way. It delineates a full set of universal concepts, as they have emerged from large-scale investigations across a wide range of languages undertaken by the author and her colleagues. On the basis of empirical cross-linguistic studies it vindicates the old notion of the 'psychic unity of mankind', while at the same time offering a framework for the rigorous description of different languages and cultures. -

About this title

About the Author

Anna Wierzbicka holds a Personal Chair in Linguistics at the Australian National University, Canberra.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press UK
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0198700032
• ISBN 13: 9780198700036
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 516