Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics)

328 Pages·1997·19.1 MB·English

by  Anna Wierzbicka

Understanding Cultures
through Their Key Words
OXFORD STUDIES IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS
William Bright, General Editor
1 Gunter Senft: Classificatory Panicles in Kilivila
2 Janis B. Nuckolls: Sounds Like Life: Sound-Symbolic Grammar,
Performance, and Cognition in Pastaza Quechua
3 David B. Kronenfeld: Plastic Glasses and Church Fathers: Semantic
Extension from the Ethnoscience Tradition
4 Lyle Campbell: American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics
of Native America
5 Chase Hensel: Telling Ourselves: Ethnicity and Discourse in
Southwestern Alaska
6 Rosaleen Howard-Malverde (ed.): Creating Context in Andean Cultures
1 Charles L. Briggs (ed.): Disorderly Discourse: Narrative, Conflict,
and Inequality
8 Anna Wierzbicka: Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words:
English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese
Understanding Cultures
through Their Key Words
English, Russian, Polish,
German, and Japanese
ANNA WIERZBICKA
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1997
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1997 by Anna Wierzbicka
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Portions of this book first appeared, in different form, as articles in journals or as chapters in collective volumes. I wish
to thank the following publishers for permission to include revised and expanded versions of the following publications
or parts thereof:
Lexicon as a key to history, culture, and society: "Homeland" and "Fatherland" in German, Polish and Russian. In Rene"
Dirven and Johan Vanparys, eds., Current approaches to the lexicon, Frankfurt: Peter Lang Verlag, pp. 103-155.
Australian b-words (bloody, bastard, bugger, bullshit): An expression of Australian culture and national character. In
Andre C!as, ed., Le mot, les mots, les bons mots / Word, words, witty words. Festschrift for Igor A. Mel 'cuk (Montreal:
Les Presses de 1'Universite de Montreal, 1992), pp. 21-38.
Speech acts and speech genres across languages and cultures. Anna Wierzbicka, Cross-cultural pragmatics: the seman-
tics of human interaction (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991), chap. 5.
Japanese key words and core cultural values, Language in society (1991), 20:333-385.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wierzbicka, Anna.
Understanding cultures through their key words : English, Russian,
Polish, German, and Japanese / Anna Wierzbicka.
p. cm. — (Oxford studies in anthropological linquistics ; v. 8)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-19-508835-2 — ISBN 0-19-508836-0 (pbk.)
1. Language and culture. 2. Lexicology—Social aspects.
I. Title. II. Series.
P35.W54 1997
306.4'4'089—dc20 96-8915
35798642
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Research for this book was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council,
which enabled me to obtain valuable research assistance throughout this project. I am
extremely grateful to my very able research assistant, Helen O'Loghlin, whose help,
both intellectual and organizational, was indispensable.
I would also like to express my gratitude to colleagues who read and commented
on some of the chapters of this book, and in particular to Andrzej Bogusrawski, Cliff
Goddard, Igor Mel'cuk, and Alan Rumsey. Cliff Goddard read the whole manuscript
and was, as always, more than generous with criticisms and suggestions for improve-
ment. I would also like to acknowledge, with thanks, the contribution of my daughter
Mary Besemeres, who has discussed with me many of the issues raised in this book
and has contributed valuable ideas, observations, and references.
Finally, it is a pleasure to express my special thanks to Ellalene Seymour for her
unfailingly efficient, thoughtful and good-humored typing and editing of the succes-
sive drafts of the book.
Canberra, Australia A.W.
January 1996
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CONTENTS
1. Introduction 1
1. Cultural analysis and linguistic semantics 1
2. Words and cultures 1
3. Different words, different ways of thinking? 5
4. Cultural elaboration and the lexicon 10
5. Word frequencies and cultures 11
6. Key words and core cultural values 15
7. "Culture"—a perilous idea? 17
8. Linguistic and conceptual universals 22
9. "Natural semantic metalanguage": Exit from Babel 23
10. Conclusion 30
2. Lexicon as a Key to Ethno-Sociology and Cultural Psychology: Patterns
of "Friendship" Across Cultures 32
1. "Friendship"-a human universal? 32
2. The changing meaning of the English word friend 35
3. Patterns of "friendship" in Russian culture 55
4. Patterns of "friendship" in Polish culture 85
5. Mate—a key to Australian culture 101
6. Conclusion 118
Appendix: Summary of the Formulae 120
3. Lexicon as a Key to Ethno-Philosophy, History, and Politics: "Freedom"
in Latin, English, Russian, and Polish 125
1. 'Freedom'—a culture-specific concept 125
2. Libertas 126
Contents viii
3. Freedom 129
4. Liberty 132
5. The older meaning of freedom 136
6. Svoboda 138
7. Vo(/fl 144
8. Wolnosc 148
9. Conclusion 152
Appendix: Summary of the Formulae 154
4. Lexicon as a Key to History, Nation, and Society: "Homeland" and
"Fatherland" in German, Polish, and Russian 156
1. Different "homelands," different "patriotisms" 156
2. Heimat 156
3. Vaterland 161
4. Ojczyzna 176
5. Rodina 191
6. Conclusion 195
Appendix: Summary of the Formulae 195
5. Australian Key Words and Core Cultural Values 198
1. "Australian culture" 198
2. Australian speech act verbs 202
3. Australian "b-words" (swearwords) 217
4. Conclusion 231
Appendix: Summary of the Formulae 232
6. Japanese Key Words and Core Cultural Values 235
1. How "unique" is Japanese culture? 235
2. Amae 238
3. Enryo 243
4. Wa 248
5. On 254
6. Girl 262
7. Seishin 270
8. Omoiyari 275
9. Conclusion 278
Appendix: Summary of the Formulae 278
Notes 281
References 293
Understanding Cultures through
Their Key Words