Spatial
language and cognition in
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Description |
How
much spatial information is represented in language? To what extent do
languages differ in the expression of geometrical and functional object
structure? Is there variation in the role the human and animal body
plays as a conceptual model of the structure of objects across
languages? Do speakers of all languages employ the same conceptual
processes in mapping the structure of the body into that of objects?
Does the way the geometrical and functional structure of objects is
conceptualized in different languages influence the way spatial
relations are identified in these languages? And does the way speakers
of different languages talk about spatial relations influence the way
they memorize them? This project attempts to find answers to these and
similar questions, based on an investigation of the representation of
space in 15 indigenous languages of
A first
in kind, this set of studies seeks to apply methods of semantic typology to
elucidate the correlations between two typologically unusual traits of
spatial language in Mesoamerica
and their possible diffusion through language contact. These are the
highly productive use of meronymic (part-whole) terminologies for
object parts and spatial regions based primarily on object geometry,
and the striking preference for allocentric (non-observer-based, i.e.
intrinsic or absolute) over egocentric (observer-based) frames of
reference. The recent demonstration of a close alignment in
frame-of-reference selection for linguistic encoding, recall memory,
and spatial reasoning has triggered a debate over the relative
importance of linguistic and cultural factors in frame-of-reference
choice. This study aims to advance this debate, capitalizing on the
ecological diversity of the Mesoamerican area, cultural factors
including modes of production, bilingualism, and education, and the
possibility of a linguistic predictor: highly productive meronym
systems.
Go to Linguistics Department
Designed
by Rodrigo Romero
© 2007
Spatial language and cognition in