The Natural Semantic Metalanguage is an approach to semantic analysis based on reductive paraphrase (that is, breaking concepts/words down into combinations of simpler concepts/words) using a small collection of semantic primes. The semantic primes (below) believed to be atomic, primitive meanings present in all human languages.

Words from ordinary language are analyzed in NSM by means of explications like the following:

plants: living things / these things can't feel something / these things can't do something

sky: something very big / people can see it / people can think like this about this something: "it is a place / it is above all others places / it is far from people"

sad: X feels sad = X feels something / sometimes a person thinks something like this: "something bad happened / if I didn't know that it happened I would say: 'I don't want it to happen' / I don't say this now because I know: 'I can't do anything'" / because of this, this person feels something bad / X feels something like this

anger: I think this person did something bad / I don't want this person to do things like this / I want to do something because of this

Anna Wierzbicka originated the NSM theory. Other related researchers include Cliff Goddard, Felix Ameka, Hilary Chappell, and Nick Enfield. NSM is commonly used in cross-cultural semantics.

Definition of a prime grammar, that describes how these prime words can be combined into sentences, is a work in progress.

The 61 Semantic Primitives (addition of LONG is proposed)

ABOVE, AFTER, ALL, BAD, BECAUSE, BEFORE, BELOW, BIG, BODY, CAN, DIE, DO, FAR, FEEL, FOR SOME TIME, GOOD, HAPPEN, HAVE, HEAR, HERE, I, IF, INSIDE, KIND OF, KNOW, LIKE, LIVE, A LONG TIME, MANY/MUCH, MAYBE, MOMENT, MORE, MOVE, (LONG), NEAR, NOT, NOW, ONE, OTHER, PART OF, PEOPLE/PERSON, THE SAME, SAY, SEE, A SHORT TIME, SIDE, SMALL, SOME, SOMEONE, SOMETHING/THING, THERE IS, THINK, THIS, TOUCH, TRUE, TWO, VERY, WANT, WHEN/TIME, WHERE/PLACE, WORD, YOU

Wierbicka tested her theory that these primes are present in all languages extensively against these 8 languages: Polish, Mandarin, Malay, Lao, Spanish, Korean, Mangaabe-Mbula (Papua language), Cree (Canadian Indian language)

Links: http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~cgoddard/\n