Speaker
Description
This study challenges the global notion of ‘pain’ by exploring the semantic nuances of pain-related concepts in Bahasa Indonesia and comparing them to English. It examines four lexemes: sakit, nyeri, pedih, and perih using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and a corpus-based approach. The study proposes alternative definitions to address the circularity and vagueness in the Great Indonesian Dictionary. Analyses reveal distinctions in physical and emotional conceptualizations: physical sensations differ in body locus, intensity, and duration, while emotional pain-like concepts relate to social relationships and vary in triggers, duration, and reactions. This highlights significant cross-linguistic distinctions between Bahasa Indonesia and English in conceptualizing ‘pain’.