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29-453: The natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) theory attempts to reduce the semantics of all lexicons down to a restricted set of semantic primitives, or primes. Primes are universal in that they have the same translation in every language, and they are primitive in that they cannot be defined using other words. Primes are ordered together to form explications , which are descriptions of semantic representations consisting solely of primes. Research in

58-413: A deep case can occur only once per sentence. Some of the cases are obligatory and others are optional. Obligatory cases may not be deleted, at the risk of producing ungrammatical sentences. For example, Mary gave the apples is ungrammatical in this sense. A fundamental hypothesis of case grammar is that grammatical functions , such as subject or object , are determined by the deep, semantic valence of

87-462: A definition which incorporates it into a well-constructed system of scientific either logicomathematical or empirical concepts." In this context, 'explication' is now regarded as "an appropriate methodology for formal philosophy". (Maher, 2007). By contrast, in literary criticism , the term 'explication' is used as a proxy for the term explication de texte (proposed by Gustave Lanson ), where additional understandings and meanings are derived from

116-471: A given more or less inexact concept into an exact one or, rather, in replacing the first by the second. We call the given concept (or the term used for it) the explicandum, and the exact concept proposed to take the place of the first (or the term proposed for it) the explicatum. The explicandum may belong to everyday language or to a previous stage in the development of scientific language. The explicatum must be given by explicit rules for its use, for example, by

145-796: A number of creole languages including Trinidadian creole , Roper River Kriol , Bislama and Tok Pisin . Apart from the originators Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard , a number of other scholars have participated in NSM semantics, most notably Bert Peeters , Zhengdao Ye , Felix Ameka , Jean Harkins , Marie-Odile Junker , Anna Gladkova , Jock Wong , Carsten Levisen , Helen Bromhead , Karen Stollznow , Adrian Tien , Carol Priestley , Yuko Asano-Cavanagh and Gian Marco Farese . Semantic primes (also known as semantic primitives) are concepts that are universal , meaning that they can be translated literally into any known language and retain their semantic representation, and primitive , as they are proposed to be

174-486: A specific verb . For instance, the verb "give" in English requires an Agent (A) and Object (O), and a Beneficiary (B); e.g. "Jones (A) gave money (O) to the school (B). According to Fillmore, each verb selects a certain number of deep cases which form its case frame . Thus, a case frame describes important aspects of semantic valency of verbs, adjectives and nouns. Case frames are subject to certain constraints, such as that

203-566: Is a system of linguistic analysis , focusing on the link between the valence , or number of subjects, objects, etc., of a verb and the grammatical context it requires. The system was created by the American linguist Charles J. Fillmore in the context of Transformational Grammar (1968). This theory analyzes the surface syntactic structure of sentences by studying the combination of deep cases (i.e. semantic roles , such as Agent, Object, Benefactor, Location or Instrument etc.) which are required by

232-473: Is an explication of our natural concept of cause. Natural language will only specify truth conditions for propositions of the form "If p, then q" for situations where "p" is true. (Most of us probably don't have any clear intuitions regarding the truth conditions of the sentence "If I go out in the sun, I will get sunburned" in situations where I never go out in the sun.) An explication of the conditional will also specify truth conditions for situations where "p"

261-955: Is an improvement upon, previous knowledge. An explication in the Carnapian sense is purely stipulative, and thus a subclass of normative definitions. Hence, an explication can not be true or false, just more or less suitable for its purpose. (Cf. Rorty's argument about the purpose and value of philosophy in Rorty (2003), "A pragmatist view of contemporary analytic philosophy", in Egginton, W. and Sandbothe, M. (Eds), The Pragmatic Turn in Philosophy, SUNY Press, New York, NY.) Examples of inexact daily life concepts in need of explication are our concepts of cause and of conditionals. Our daily life concept of cause does not distinguish between necessary causes, sufficient causes, complete causes etc. Each of these more precise concepts

290-435: Is not true. Carnap's argument provides a helpful foundation in understanding and clarifying the nature and value of explication in defining and describing "new" knowledge. Others' reviews of Carnap's argument offer additional insights about the nature of explication. In particular, Bonolio's paper (2003) "Kant’s Explication and Carnap’s Explication: The Redde Rationem", and Maher's (2007) "Explication defended", add weight to

319-483: Is that these explications can fit into natural language, even if it sounds very awkward. For example: Explications in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage are neither exact dictionary definitions, nor encyclopedic explanations of a concept. They often differ slightly depending upon the personal experiences of the person writing them. In this way, they can be said to "rely heavily on 'folk theories,' that is,

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348-415: Is used in both analytic philosophy and literary criticism . Rudolf Carnap was the first to coin the term in an analytic philosophical approach in his book Logical Foundations of Probability , while the term is supplanted with Gustave Lanson ’s idea of Explication de Texte when referring to the analysis and criticism of different forms of literature. In analytic philosophy, the concept of explication

377-488: The natural semantic metalanguage theory, explications are semantic representations of vocabulary. These explications are made up of a very limited set of words called semantic primes which are considered to have universal meaning across all languages. An example of an explication of the word happy : What sets the Natural Semantic Metalanguage Theory's explications apart from previous theories,

406-474: The " close reading " of (say) a poem, novel or play. In this process, explication often involves a line-by-line or episode-by-episode commentary on what is going on in a text. While initially this might seem reasonably innocuous, explication de texte , and explication per se, is an interpretative process where the resulting new knowledge, new insights or new meanings, are open to subsequent debate and disaffirmation by others. Case grammar Case grammar

435-481: The 1970s and the 1980s, Charles Fillmore extended his original theory onto what was called Frame Semantics . Walter A. Cook, SJ, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University , was one of the foremost case grammar theoreticians following Fillmore's original work. Cook devoted most of his scholarly research from the early 1970s until the 1990s to further developing case grammar as a tool for linguistic analysis, language teaching methodology, and other applications, and

464-589: The NSM approach deals extensively with language and cognition , and language and culture . Key areas of research include lexical semantics , grammatical semantics , phraseology and pragmatics , as well as cross-cultural communication . Dozens of languages, including representatives of 16 language groups, have been studied using the NSM framework. They include English , Russian , Polish , French , Spanish , Italian , Swedish , Danish , Finnish , Malay , Japanese , Chinese , Korean , Ewe , Wolof , East Cree , Koromu , at least 16 Australian languages , and

493-457: The Natural semantic metalanguage, it is only the prime concept which is identified as universal. The following is a list of English exponents of semantic primes adapted from Levisen and Waters (eds.) 2017. NSM primes can be combined in a limited set of syntactic frames that are also universal. These valency options specify the specific types of grammatical functions that can be combined with

522-527: The Western semantic bias involved in reconnecting with ancient Aboriginal traditions using English, and may allow a fuller understanding of the original meaning of the Aboriginal lexical items." Explication Explication ( German : Explikation ) is the process of drawing out the meaning of something which is not clearly defined, so as to make explicit what is currently left implicit. The term explication

551-451: The argument that explication is an appropriate methodology for formal philosophy. The word "explicate" is a verb referring to the process of explicating. The word "explication" is a noun referring to the outcome of that process: the explicative work itself. As conceptual clarity is an important element of analytic philosophy , it is important to use words according to their proper definitions so as to avoid causing unnecessary confusion. In

580-419: The current agreed-upon number is 65. Each language's translations of the semantic primes are called exponents. Below is a list of English exponents, or the English translation of the semantic primes. It is important to note that some of the exponents in the following list are polysemous and can be associated with meanings in English (and other languages) that are not shared. However, when used as an exponent in

609-543: The deep case following the agent in the hierarchy (i.e. Instrumental) is promoted to subject. The influence of case grammar on contemporary linguistics has been significant, to the extent that numerous linguistic theories incorporate deep roles in one or other form, such as the so-called Thematic structure in Government and Binding theory . It has also inspired the development of frame -based representations in AI research. During

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638-433: The most simple linguistic concepts and are unable to be defined using simpler terms. Proponents of the NSM theory argue that every language shares a core vocabulary of concepts. In 1994 and 2002, Goddard and Wierzbicka studied languages across the globe and found strong evidence supporting this argument. Wierzbicka's 1972 study proposed 14 semantic primes. That number was expanded to 60 in 2002 by Wierzbicka and Goddard, and

667-521: The notation [m] in explications and cultural scripts. Some molecules are proposed to be universal or near-universal, while others are culture- or area-specific. Examples of proposed universal molecules: Minimal English is a derivative of the natural semantic metalanguage research, with the first major publication in 2018. It is a reduced form of English designed for non-specialists to use when requiring clarity of expression or easily translatable materials. Minimal English uses an expanded set of vocabulary to

696-402: The original expression in context without change of meaning. For example: Someone X broke something Y : Semantic molecules are intermediary words used in explications and cultural scripts. While not semantic primes, they can be defined exclusively using primes. Semantic molecules can be determined as words that are necessary to build upon to explicate other words. These molecules are marked by

725-428: The primes. While these combinations can be realized differently in other languages, it is believed that the meanings expressed by these syntactic combinations are universal. Examples of valency frames for the "say" semantic prime: A semantic analysis in the NSM approach results in a reductive paraphrase called an explication that captures the meaning of the concept explicated. An ideal explication can be substituted for

754-482: The rather naive understandings that most of us have about how life, the universe, and everything work." Explications of abstract concepts, such as color, do not list any scientific facts about the object or concrete definitions. Instead, the explications use comparisons and examples from the real world. The terms explication and explication de texte have different meanings. As argued by Carnap (1950), in science and philosophy, "explication consists in transforming

783-738: The semantic primes. It includes the proposed universal and near-universal molecules, as well as non-universal words which can assist in clarity. As such, it already has counterparts targeted at speakers of other natural languages, e.g. Minimal French , Minimal Polish , 65 Sanaa ( Minimal Finnish ) and so on. Minimal English differs from other simple Englishes (such as Basic English ) as it has been specifically designed for maximal cross-translatability. Applications of NSM have also been proposed for natural-language processing , natural-language understanding and artificial intelligence . Ghil'ad Zuckermann suggests that NSM can be of benefit in revivalistics ( language revitalization ) as it "can neutralize

812-428: The verb, which finds its syntactic correlate in such grammatical categories as Subject and Object, and in grammatical cases such as Nominative and Accusative. Fillmore (1968) puts forwards the following hierarchy for a universal subject selection rule: Agent < Instrumental < Objective That means that if the case frame of a verb contains an agent, this one is realized as the subject of an active sentence; otherwise,

841-418: Was first developed by Rudolf Carnap . Explication can be regarded as a scientific process which transforms and replaces "an inexact prescientific concept" (which Carnap calls the explicandum), with a "new exact concept" (which he calls the explicatum). A description and explanation of the nature and impact of the new explicit knowledge is usually called an "explication". The new explicit knowledge draws on, and

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