2024/12/20 by Hiromichi Sakaba, Sandy Habib · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition #Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism
paper · doi:10.1080/07268602.2024.2426634
openalex publication_date 2024/12/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
This paper sheds light on the semantics and pragmatics of an uninvestigated aspect of Japanese linguaculture (ways of speaking and living). It explores euphemistic verbs for Japanese shinu 死ぬ ‘die’ using corpus analysis and Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Owing to space constraints, only the 15 most frequent verbs are investigated. The meaning of each verb is unpacked using very simple words that have exact equivalents in Japanese. Additionally, light is shed on several cultural norms that direct native Japanese speakers in their use and interpretation of some of these verbs. Like each of the verbs in question, each cultural norm is paraphrased employing simple words. This study contributes to the fields of semantics, pragmatics, and anthropology. It is the first study to analyze and explicate Japanese euphemistic verbs for die in self-explanatory terms and to uncover some cultural norms that aid the Japanese to appropriately interact with each other when referring to the death of someone. As the paraphrase of each verb and norm is written in simple, (semi-)universal language, it can readily be translated into most (if not all) languages and can thus give any cultural outsider access to the meanings of these verbs and norms.