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In:Cultural Keywords in Discourse
Edited by Carsten Levisen and Sophia Waters
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 277] 2017
► pp. 25–54

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Chapter 2
Nice as a cultural keyword

The semantics behind Australian discourses of sociality

 | University of New England
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.277.02wat
Abstract
This chapter investigates the English word nice as a cultural keyword, around which sociality discourses revolve. Focusing on its semantic scope in Australian discourse, the keyword nice has an important story to tell about socially accepted and approved ways of thinking, communicating and behaving. Oftentimes nice has been trivialised, or even ridiculed as an “empty word”, but closer scrutiny reveals that nice has all the characteristics of a cultural keyword. It is frequent and foundational in Australian discourse, and it reflects cultural logics, values and orientations. Also, as is common with cultural keywords, nice lacks translational equivalents, even in closely related languages. A comparison with French gentil demonstrates how nice is distinctive in the way it organises and maintains specific discursive orders.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Meet nice
  • 3.Comparisons with French (gentil, sympathique)
  • 4.The collocational profile of nice
    • 4.1The lexical semantics of nice
      • 4.1.1It’s nice to VP
      • 4.1.2Nice person
      • 4.1.3Nice + N place and It’s a nice place to VP
      • 4.1.4 Nice + N thing : Aesthetic and functional
      • 4.1.5Be nice to someone
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
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2021. Pæn, flot, dejlig, andlækker. International Journal of Language and Culture 8:1 ► pp. 14 ff. DOI logo
Farese, Gian Marco
2020. The Ethnopragmatics of English Understatement and Italian Exaggeration: Clashing Cultural Scripts for the Expression of Personal Opinions. In Studies in Ethnopragmatics, Cultural Semantics, and Intercultural Communication, ► pp. 59 ff. DOI logo
Peeters, Bert
2020. Gezellig: A Dutch cultural keyword unpacked. In Meaning, Life and Culture: In conversation with Anna Wierzbicka, ► pp. 61 ff. DOI logo
Trnavac, Radoslava & Maite Taboada
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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