Contrastive semantics of physical activity verbs: ‘Cutting’ and ‘chopping’ in English, Polish, and Japanese

Abstract

This study explores the contrastive lexical semantics of verbs comparable to 'cut' and 'chop' in three languages (English, Polish, and Japanese), using the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) technique of semantic analysis. It proposes a six-part semantic template, and argues that this template can serve as a basis for a lexical typology of complex physical activity verbs in general. At the same time, it argues that language-specific aspects of the semantics are often culturally motivated. Nine verbs are examined (English cut, chop, slice, Polish ciac "cut", krajac "cut/slice", obcinac "cut around", rabac "chop", Japanese kiru "cut", kizamu "chop"), and NSM explications are proposed for each one based on its range of use in natural contexts, thus capturing the semantic similarities and differences in fine-grained detail.