# KEHOME/knowledge/theory/NaturalSemanticMetalanguage/prime.html
# Oct/10/2003
Semantic Primes

Semantic Primes

Anna Wierzbicka [1]

category old prime new prime
substantives I
YOU
SOMEONE
SOMETHING
PEOPLE
determiners THIS
THE SAME
OTHER
SOME
quantifiers ONE
TWO
MANY (MUCH)
ALL
augmentor MORE
mental predicates THINK
KNOW
WANT
FEEL
SEE
HEAR
speech SAY
actions and events DO
HAPPEN
non-mental predicates MOVE
THERE IS
(BE) ALIVE
evaluators GOOD
BAD
descriptors BIG
SMALL
space WHERE
UNDER
ABOVE
FAR
NEAR
SIDE
INSIDE
HERE
time WHEN
BEFORE
AFTER
A LONG TIME
A SHORT TIME
NOW
partonomy and taxonomy PART (OF)
KIND (OF)
metapredicates NOT
CAN
VERY
interclausal linkers IF
BECAUSE
LIKE
imagination and possibility IF ... WOULD
MAYBE
words WORD

Cliff Goddard [2]

category prime
substantives I
YOU
SOMEONE
SOMETHING/THING
PEOPLE/PERSON
determiners THIS
THE SAME
OTHER/ELSE
quantifiers ONE
TWO
ALL
MANY/MUCH
SOME
mental predicates WANT
FEEL
THINK
KNOW
SEE
HEAR
speech SAY
WORD
actions, events, movement DO
HAPPEN
MOVE
existence THERE IS
life LIVE
DIE
evaluators and descriptors GOOD
BAD
BIG
SMALL
time WHEN/TIME
NOW
BEFORE
AFTER
A LONG TIME
A SHORT TIME
FOR SOME TIME
space WHERE/PLACE
HERE
ABOVE
BELOW
NEAR
FAR
SIDE
INSIDE
logical concepts NOT
MAYBE
IF
CAN
BECAUSE
intensifier, augmentor VERY
MORE
taxonomy, partonomy KIND OF
PART OF
similarity LIKE

References

  1. Anna Wierzbicka, "Semantics: Primes and Universals", Oxford University Press, 1996.
    p. 35: old primitives (well tested)
    p. 73: new primitives (more recent)
  2. Cliff Goddard, "Polysemy: A Problem of Definition", pp. 129 - 151 in Yael Ravin and Claudia Leacock, "Polysemy: Theoretical and Computational Approaches", Oxford University Press, 2000.
    p. 131: proposed semantic primes
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