Universal semantic molecules

The Learn These Words First lessons explain about 300 semantic molecules. These semantic molecules were identified by computer-aided analysis of paraphrased dictionary definitions.

Many of these same semantic molecules were independently identified by Cliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka. The following lists are adapted from their briefing paper for the "Global English, Minimal English" symposium (July 2015, ANU, Canberra).

Universal or near-universal semantic molecules

• Defined in Learn These Words First lessons: animal (creature), around, back, bird, blood, bottom, burn (fire), centre (middle), child, day, drink, ear, eat, egg, eye, fish, flat, front, ground, grow, hair (fur), hand, hard, head, heavy, hold, laugh, leg, light, long, make, man, mouth, name (called), nose, play, quickly, round, sharp, sit, sky, sleep, smooth, straight, sun, sweet, top, tree, water, woman.
• Not in the lessons: born, breast, dance, face, father, feather, finger, fingernail, husband, kill, lie, mother, night, on, sing, skin, slowly, soft, tail, tooth, wife, wing.

Semantic molecules found in many languages

• Defined in Learn These Words First lessons: alcohol, boat, book, bread, building, buy, car, cat, cloth, cold, colour, country, day, doctor, dog, electricity, game, god, hot, house, line, machine, metal, milk, money, month, music, number, paper, read, room, salt, school, seed, sheep, soldier, sour, string (thread), wheel, write, year.
• Not in the lessons: ball, bank, bed, china, church, city, clock, computer, corn, cow, dot, earth, engine, flour, glass, grass, horse, hospital, iron, leather, meat, mouse, nurse, oil, pig, plane, potato, rain, rice, road, sand, sea, soup, sugar, table, teacher, tobacco, train, village, week, wheat, wind, wire, wool.

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