1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910463355103321

Autore

Levisen Carsten

Titolo

Cultural semantics and social cognition [[electronic resource] ] : a case study on the Danish universe of meaning / / by Carsten Levisen

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin, : De Gruyter Mouton, 2012

ISBN

3-11-029465-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (354 p.)

Collana

Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs, , 1861-4302 ; ; 257

Disciplina

439.810143

Soggetti

Semantics

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Figures and tables -- Conventions and symbols -- Chapter 1. Danish as a universe of meaning -- Chapter 2. The NSM approach to linguistic and cultural analysis: Key issues in contemporary cultural semantics -- Chapter 3. Roots of Danish sociality: Hygge as a cultural keyword and core cultural value -- Chapter 4. "It's all about being tryg": Danish society, socialization and ethnopsychology -- Chapter 5. The dark side of the Danes? A semantic and discursive analysis of janteloven 'the Jante Law' -- Chapter 6. Danish cognitive values in a cross-cultural perspective: Evidence from the cognitive verbs synes and mener -- Chapter 7. Are Danes truly the happiest people on earth? Semantics meets "happiness research" -- Chapter 8. Conclusion -- Appendix. Explications and Cultural Scripts in Danish NSM -- Notes -- References -- Author index -- General index

Sommario/riassunto

Presenting original, detailed studies of keywords of Danish, this book breaks new ground for the study of language and cultural values. Based on evidence from the semantic categories of everyday language, such as the Danish concept of hygge (roughly meaning, 'pleasant togetherness'), the book provides an integrative socio-cognitive framework for studying and understanding language-particular universes. It is argued that the worlds we live in are not linguistically and conceptually neutral, but rather that speakers who live by Danish concepts are likely to pay attention to their world in ways suggested by



central Danish keywords and lexical grids. By means of a sophisticated semantic methodology, the author accounts for the meanings of even highly culture-specific and untranslatable linguistic concepts. The book offers new tools for comparative research into the diversity of semantic and cultural systems in contemporary Europe. Additionally, it contributes to the emerging discipline of cultural semantics, and to the ongoing debates of linguistic diversity, metalanguage, and the use of linguistic evidence in studies of culture and social cognition.