Cultural Semantics in the Lexicon of Modern Chinese

What is cultural semantics? How to define and analyze it in the lexicon of modern Chinese?
This book outlines the development and research results of cultural semantic theory, and then proposes the distinction between two types of cultural semantics at the synchronic level: conceptual gap items and items with a cultural meaning. It provides criteria for identifying these items by using detailed examples from theory and application. Finally, the two types of cultural semantics are applied to the case of modern Chinese. The criteria proposed for determining the Chinese cultural semantics apply not only to this, but also to other languages. Therefore, this book offers an operational basis for further studies of cultural semantics in academia.

Zhao Ming, Ph.D. (2014), Peking University, is Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He has recently published "Swearing in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties: The principles and cultural beliefs in Shuǐhǔ zhuàn (水浒传)" in the International Journal of Language and Culture, (9/1, 2022).