ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the approach to linguistic description—Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM)—approach is based on two fundamental assumptions: that every language has an irreducible core in terms of which the speakers can understand all complex thoughts and utterances, and that the irreducible cores of all natural languages match, so that one can speak, effectively, of the irreducible core of all languages, reflecting the irreducible core of human thought. Cross-linguistic empirical work undertaken within the NSM framework suggests that there are close to 60 universal conceptual primitives such as negation (NO). It discusses fairly briefly three of the English constructions. The chapter examines more extensively a whole family of English causative constructions based on the verb make. It focuses on the comparison of the meaning of the make causative illustrated in with that of the force causative. The chapter illustrates the interpersonal causative construction based on the auxiliary verb get. English has many different make constructions.
