Spatial language and cognition
beyond Mesoamerica
(NSF Award No. Principal
Investigator: Jürgen Bohnemeyer (University at Buffalo)
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 25 languages spoken on five continents. The overarching question is that of linguistic vs.
nonlinguistic determinants of reference frame use in language and internal
cognition. Previous research has confirmed the co-occurrence of a bias
against relative (observer-projected) frames and the highly productive use of
"meronymic" terminologies that are based
primarily on object geometry across the languages of the Mesoamerican area.
To test the hypothesis that shape-based meronymy, used as a resource in
spatial descriptions, is in fact a causal influence in frame use, four
non-Mesoamerican languages of South America, Africa, and Asia will be
examined. Preliminary reports suggest the presence of Mesoamerican-style
geometric meronymy in these languages. The alternative hypothesis, according
to which frame selection is not directly driven by language, but exclusively
by non-linguistic factors, will be tested in eight Asian populations. Among
Mesoamerican languages, the team will further investigate an unexpected
apparent side effect of the predominance of object-centered geometry: the
"principle of canonical orientation", which prevents English
speakers from saying "The ball is under the chair" when it is
placed on top of an inverted chair, may be language-specific. Go to Linguistics Department Designed by Rodrigo Romero. Edited by Randi Tucker. © 2012 Spatial language and cognition in Mesoamerica project. |