Natural semantic metalanguage

The Natural Semantic Metalanguage is an approach to semantic analysis based on reductive paraphrase (that is, breaking concepts/words down into combinations of simpler concepts/words) using a small collection of semantic primes. The semantic primes (below) believed to be atomic, primitive meanings present in all human languages.

Words from ordinary language are analyzed in NSM by means of explications like the following for the Japanese word amae:

X felt amae =
X felt something because X thought something
sometimes a person thinks something like this:

 "when Y thinks about me, Y feels something good

 Y wants to do good things for me

 Y can do good things for me

 when I am with Y nothing bad can happen to me

 I don't have to do anything because of this"

when this person thinks this, this person feels something good
X felt something like this
because X thought something like this
(by Anna Wierzbicka, 1998)

Anna Wierzbicka originated the NSM theory. Other related researchers include Cliff Goddard[?], Felix Ameka[?], Hilary Chappell[?], and Nick Enfield[?]. NSM is commonly used in cross-cultural semantics[?].

The Semantic Primitives (ones in parens are proposed):

ABOVE, AFTER, ALL, BAD, BECAUSE, BEFORE, BELOW, BIG, BODY, CAN, DIE, DO, FAR, FEEL, FOR SOME TIME, GOOD, HAPPEN, HAVE, HEAR, HERE, I, IF, INSIDE, KIND OF, KNOW, LIKE, LIVE, A LONG TIME, MANY/MUCH, MAYBE, (MOMENT), MORE, MOVE, (LONG), NEAR, NOT, NOW, ONE, OTHER, PART OF, PEOPLE/PERSON, THE SAME, SAY, SEE, A SHORT TIME, SIDE, SMALL, SOME, SOMEONE, SOMETHING/THING, THERE IS, THINK, THIS, (TOUCH), TRUE, TWO, VERY, WANT, WHEN/TIME, WHERE/PLACE, WORD, YOU

Links: http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~cgoddard/