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Japanese key words and core cultural values1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Anna Wierzbicka
Anna Wierzbicka
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Australian National University
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Abstract

Every language has its own key words, which reflect the core values of the culture. Consequently, cultures can be revealingly studied, compared, and explained to outsiders through their key words. But to be able to study, compare, and explain cultures in terms of their key words, we need a culture-independent analytical framework. A framework of this kind is provided by the natural semantic metalanguage developed by the author and colleagues over the last two decades. In the present article, the author explores and analyzes six Japanese concepts widely regarded as being almost more that any others culture-specific and culturally revealing – amae, enryo, wa, on, giri, and seishin – and shows how the use of the natural semantic metalanguage (based on universal semantic primitives) helps to make these concepts clear and how it facilitates better insight into Japanese culture and society (Japanese language, Japanese culture, cross-cultural semantics, key words, core values)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 333 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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