Studies in Ethnopragmatics, Cultural Semantics, and Intercultural Communication

Kerry Mullan is Associate Professor and Convenor of Languages in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University. She teaches French language and culture, and sociolinguistics. Her main research interests are cross-cultural communication and the differing interactional styles of French and Australian English speakers. She also researches in the areas of intercultural pragmatics, discourse analysis, language teaching and in humour in social interactions. Her publications include Expressing opinions in French and Australian English discourse: A semantic and interactional analysis (2010) and Cross-culturally speaking, speaking cross-culturally (ed. with B. Peeters and C. Béal, 2013).  Bert Peeters is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University, and a Gastprofessor at the University of Antwerp. His main research interests are in French linguistics, intercultural communication, and language and cultural values. His publications include Les primitifs sémantiques (ed., 1993), The lexicon-encyclopedia interface (ed., 2000), Semantic primes and universal grammar (ed., 2006),Tu ou vous: l’embarras du choix (ed. with N. Ramière, 2009), Cross-culturally speaking, speaking cross-culturally (ed. with K. Mullan and C. Béal, 2013), and Heart- and soul-like constructs across languages, cultures, and epochs (ed., 2019). Lauren Sadow is a sessional academic at the Australian National University, Canberra. Her main research interests are teaching culture, interactional norms, cultural lexicography, and cross-cultural communication. Her PhD thesis created an NSM-based dictionary titled The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers.

Words as Carriers of Cultural Meaning.- “There is no sex in the Soviet Union”: from sex to seks.- When value words cross cultural borders: English tolerance vs. Russian tolerantnost’.-The ‘Aussie’ bogan: towards a lexical semantic analysis.- Exploring the non-religious meanings of heaven and hell in English, Arabic, and Hebrew.- ‘Brother’ and ‘sister’ in Ghanaian English.- Cultural keywords in Buenos Aires: the semantics of viveza criolla, vivo, and boludo in Porteño Spanish.- ‘Being actively engaged’ in Japan: the cultural semantics of katsu (活) compound words.- Bwénaado: An ethnolexicological study of a culturally salient word in Cèmuhi (New Caledonia).- The semantics and pragmatics of three potential slurring terms.- How to be nice with words: positive appraisal in online news comments.- “Swear Words” and “Nice Words”.- The semantics of Akan insults in online interactions on GhanaWeb.- Words for things unseen: semantic resilience and change in NSW coastal languages.