Environmental Semantics

Abstract

Environmental semantics is the study of the meanings of words, expressions, and constructions that pertain to climate, weather, and associated social phenomena, including environmentalism. Through the composition of semantic explications, scripts, and models, phrased in natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) or minimal languages, one can illuminate the relationship between language and people, and the social, cultural, and environmental systems in which they are embedded. Environmental destruction, including climate crisis, is a wicked problem. How people express themselves through language encodes attitudes and values held towards the environment, broadly defined. In this way, language is one piece of the puzzle. Although of worldwide concern, many climate and weather events happen locally in specific geographic, historical, and cultural contexts, and instantiate local linguacultural expressions. At the same time, discussion of environment increasingly occurs between people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, often using English as a global language.