Cross-cultural pain semantics

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Abstract
Cultures differ as to typical linguistic reports and classifications of pain. In some languages upwards of 12 specific pain terms are in common use, each indicating a particular pain experience. In other languages a single inclusive term is the norm, perhaps with optional qualifiers added to make distinctions. Pain experience undergoes cognitive sorting of different types. It is important to be aware of how obligatory or how optional imposed linguistic distinctions may be. Cultural responses to pain, including local medical practices, may be linked to such cognitive sorting. A bolder speculation (in line with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) would be to think of cognitive categorizations as exerting controls on affective perception through some type of neocortical monitoring or filtering of incoming neural messages. More technical aspects of pain-term semantics need to be studied and issues must be clearly formulated. A representative proliferated system (Thai) is examined and some comparisons are made with distinctions in other languages. Taxonomic and sequential contrast relationships are discussed and illustrated. Varying types and degrees of looseness in semantic contrast cannot be ignored if revealing cross-cultural comparisons are to be made.