Titre
Human attribute concepts : relative ubiquity across twelve mutually isolated languages
Type
article
Institution
Externe
Périodique
Auteur(s)
Saucier, Gerard
Auteure/Auteur
Thalmayer, Amber Gayle
Auteure/Auteur
Bel-Bahar, Tarik S.
Auteure/Auteur
Liens vers les personnes
ISSN
1939-1315
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2014
Volume
107
Numéro
1
Première page
199
Dernière page/numéro d’article
216
Langue
anglais
Résumé
It has been unclear which human-attribute concepts are most universal across languages. To
identify common-denominator concepts, we used dictionaries for twelve mutually isolated languages -- Maasai, Supyire Senoufo, Khoekhoe, Afar, Mara Chin, Hmong, Wik-Mungkan, Enga, Fijian, Inuktitut, Hopi, and Kuna -- representing diverse cultural characteristics and language families, from multiple continents. A composite list of every person-descriptive term in each lexicon was closely examined to determine the content (in terms of English translation) most ubiquitous across languages. Study 1 identified 28 single-word concepts used to describe persons in all 12 languages, as well as 41 additional terms found in 11 of 12. Results indicated that attribute concepts related to morality and competence appear to be as cross-culturally ubiquitous as basic-emotion concepts. Formulations of universal-attribute concepts from Osgood and Wierzbicka were well-supported. Study 2 compared lexically based personality models on the relative ubiquity of key associated terms, finding that one- and two-dimensional models draw on markedly more ubiquitous terms than do five- or six-factor models. We suggest that ubiquitous attributes reflect common cultural as well as common biological processes.
identify common-denominator concepts, we used dictionaries for twelve mutually isolated languages -- Maasai, Supyire Senoufo, Khoekhoe, Afar, Mara Chin, Hmong, Wik-Mungkan, Enga, Fijian, Inuktitut, Hopi, and Kuna -- representing diverse cultural characteristics and language families, from multiple continents. A composite list of every person-descriptive term in each lexicon was closely examined to determine the content (in terms of English translation) most ubiquitous across languages. Study 1 identified 28 single-word concepts used to describe persons in all 12 languages, as well as 41 additional terms found in 11 of 12. Results indicated that attribute concepts related to morality and competence appear to be as cross-culturally ubiquitous as basic-emotion concepts. Formulations of universal-attribute concepts from Osgood and Wierzbicka were well-supported. Study 2 compared lexically based personality models on the relative ubiquity of key associated terms, finding that one- and two-dimensional models draw on markedly more ubiquitous terms than do five- or six-factor models. We suggest that ubiquitous attributes reflect common cultural as well as common biological processes.
PID Serval
serval:BIB_31830AB93559
Date de création
2016-12-23T12:42:16.637Z
Date de création dans IRIS
2025-05-20T18:47:44Z
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Nom
12Languages_FinalText.pdf
Version du manuscrit
preprint
Taille
483.92 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
PID Serval
serval:BIB_31830AB93559.P001
Somme de contrôle
(MD5):ad5ceb4bef308afb363225c4f9e4e182