emic

English

Etymology

Coined by American linguist Kenneth Pike in 1954 from phonemic.

• 1982, Kenneth Lee Pike, Linguistic Concepts: An Introduction to Tagmemics, page 44:

  Generalizing from phonemics, I coined the term emic in 1954.

Adjective

emic (comparative more emic, superlative most emic)

1. (social sciences) Of or pertaining to the analysis of a cultural system or its features from the perspective of a participant in that culture.
   • 1996, Advanced Methodological Issues in Culturally Competent Evaluation for Substance Abuse Prevention:

     A useful example of the emic-etic distinction may be made by comparing the concept “waves on the ocean or sea” from the perspective of a European American with that of a Truk Islander […] The proposed etics here might be that both cultures understand the use of waves as vehicles for surfing and as movement reflecting the transfer of energy […] certain differences, or emics exist, for European Americans the waves may be sources of beauty — the Truk Islander has learned to use them […] as a road map.

Coordinate terms

• etic

Translations

analyzing a culture from inside

• Dutch: emisch
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: emisch (de)

Anagrams

• ICEM, ICME, cemi, mice