Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words

English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese

Anna Wierzbicka author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:6th Nov '97

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words cover

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.

There is a lot to be gleaned from just about anything produced by Wierzbicka - the "key words book" [...] is no exception [...]. The observations are plentiful and fascinating [...]. [Wierzbicka] has done more than anyone else to really "understand cultures through their key words". * Word, 51 [2000] *

ISBN: 9780195088366

Dimensions: 156mm x 231mm x 21mm

Weight: 508g

328 pages