German Ordnung: a semantic and ethnopragmatic analysis of a core cultural value

This study aims to illustrate the intricate connections that exist between features of a certain language and underlying culture-specific conceptualizations. The analysis sheds new light on a German cultural core value, namely, Ordnung “order,” its relationship to other cultural themes, and the influence it exerts on German interpersonal style. To reach a better understanding of the German core value Ordnung “order” as it relates to other German cultural themes, we first provide an analysis of the common expressions alles (ist) in Ordnung “everything [is] in order” and Ordnung muss sein “there has to be order.” This will be followed by an analysis of the social descriptor term locker “loose.” We seek to illustrate the merits of a perspective in language and culture studies that is truly culture-internal and can thus facilitate cross-cultural understanding, and we do so by applying the principles of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to semantic and ethnopragmatic description.