| Contents |
Danish as a universe of meaning. Introduction ; Overview ; Language and cultural values ; Danish identity, culture and language; The new concepts dansk 'Danish' and sprog 'language'; Grundtvigianism and the peculiarities of Danish enlightenment; Scandinavian unity and diversity ; Approaches to Danish cultural values; Parameter-based comparative approaches; Monographs; A critical summary ; Doing linguistically grounded analysis : caveats and challenges; Natural language and linguistic corpora; Linguistic and cultural heterogeneity and change; Ethnocentrism -- The NSM approach to linguistic and cultural analysis : key issues in contemporary cultural semantics. Introduction ; The NSM metalanguage; Semantic primes; Metalanguage grammar; lssues in Danish NSM; Semantic explications; Semantic templates; Semantic molecules ; Perspectives and discussion; Conceptual vs. extensional approaches; Reductive paraphrase vs. metaphor mapping; Representational vs. critical perspectives ; NSM and cultural values; Cultural keywords; Cultural Scripts ; Concluding remarks -- Roots of Danish sociality : Hygge as a cultural keyword and core cultural value. Introduction ; Rolling together hygge : the limitations of English ; Hygge in cross-cultural encounters ; The elaborations of hygge in Danish language ; The semantics of hygge; Explaining the rise of the verb hygger; Stemning 'atmosphere', a hygge-related word ; The ethnopragmatics of hygge; Social cognition; Communicative style; Sensation and symbolism ; How culture-specific is hygge? ; Concluding remarks -- "Its all about being tryg" : Danish society, socialisation and ethnopsychology. Introduction ; Tryghed as a Danish cultural value ; The Cardamom Law ; The semantics of tryg and tryghed; A tryg place; Tryghed vs. security; Feeling tryg ; Towards a Danish ethnopsychology; The concept of rammer 'frames'; The importance of "overviewability" and "pedagogy" ; Concluding remarks -- The dark side of the Danes? A semantic and discursive analysis of janteloven 'the Jante Law'. Introduction ; The literary origin of janteloven ; Anti-janteloven discourses in contemporary Denmark ; The semantics of janteloven ; Janteloven's hidden message of selvværd 'self worth' ; Janteloven : a Danish super demon ; Concluding remarks -- Danish cognitive values in cross-cultural perspective : evidence from the cognitive verbs synes and mener. Introduction ; Cognitive verbs and cognitive values ; The semantics of synes ; The semantics of mener ; Danish cognitive values; A cultural script against "telling others what to think"; The value of selvstændig 'independent' thinking ; Danish cognitive style in cross-cultural comparison; Danish and Russian verbs and values; Danish and Anglo English verbs and values ; Pedagogical scripts ; Concluding remarks -- Are Danes truly the happiest people on earth? Semantics meets "happiness research". Introduction ; "Happiness", meaning and culture ; Explicating lykkelig, glad, and tilfreds; The lykkelig of intense emotion; The lykkelig of life quality; The semantics of glad; The semantics of tilfreds ; Comparative, historical and cultural perspectives ; Cultural semantics vs. "happiness research" ; Concluding remarks -- Conclusion ; Introduction ; Living with Danish concepts ; Achievements and implications ; Suggestions for future research ; Closing remarks ; Appendix ; Notes ; References ; Author index ; General index. |
