Language Makes a Difference: Breaking the Barrier of "Shame"

Bert Peeters

Abstract


This paper argues against the reification of shame and the use of Anglocentric jargon to explain what it entails. It shows how the Natural Semantic Metalanguage can be used to define shame and set it apart from related concepts in Australian Aboriginal English and in Bislama, an English creole spoken in Vanuatu.




Keywords


Natural Semantic Metalanguage; semantic primes; universal grammar; explication; shame/ashamed

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2020.44.1.27-37
Date of publication: 2020-05-01 01:07:08
Date of submission: 2019-09-24 16:02:33


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