The universal syntax of semantic primitives

Abstract Anna Wierzbicka's ‘natural semantic metalanguage’ (NSM) theory has given rise to a new approach to investigating the fundamentals of syntax. The central idea is that all languages share an irreducible core which consists of a set of universal semantic primitives with certain universal combinatorial (i.e. syntactic) properties. This paper outlines a series of hypotheses about the universal syntax of semantic primitives—hypotheses which are tested in the individual language studies which comprise the rest of the volume. Topics include: the valency options and complementation possibilities of primitive predicates such as do, happen, want, think, say and know , the grammar of temporal and locative primitives (such as when/time, before, after, where/place, above, below, near, far ), and of the conditional ( if… ) and counterfactual ( if…would ) constructions.