Abstract
AbstractThis paper investigates “directionals” or geocentric spatial terms in Lamaholot, examining the interaction between directionals, topographic environment, and cultural construals of landscape. Lamaholot is an Austronesian language of eastern Indonesia spoken on the volcanic island of Flores. The Lewotobi dialect, with which this paper is concerned, is spoken on the coastal area between Mt. Lewotobi and the Solor Sea. Reflective of this topographic environment, this language has “directionals” or grammatical terms defined with respect to landmarks:rae‘mountainward’,lau‘seaward’,wəli‘parallel with the coast’,teti‘upward’, andlali‘downward’. After describing how the spatial orientation represented by directionals is embedded in linguistic and sociocultural practices in Lamaholot-speaking communities, this paper shows that directionals exhibit intriguing diversity in interpretation and morphosyntax: they constitute a coordinate system for geocentric frame of reference, refer to different directions depending on different construals of landscape, and can appear in various syntactic positions. It is argued that this diversity can be understood in terms of a complex interplay of topographic environment, sociocultural practices, language uses, and linguistic repertoire, as assumed in the Sociotopographic Model (Palmer, Bill, Jonathon Lum, Jonathan Schlossberg & Alice Gaby. 2017. How does the environment shape spatial language? Evidence for sociotopography.Linguistic Typology21(3). 457–491). Thus, the directional system in Lamaholot makes a strong case for a sociotopographic approach to spatial language.
Highlights
This paper presents a case study of geocentric spatial terms in the Lamaholot language of eastern Indonesia (ISO 639-3 slp)
After describing how the spatial orientation represented by directionals is embedded in linguistic and sociocultural practices in Lamaholot-speaking communities, this paper shows that directionals exhibit intriguing diversity in interpretation and morphosyntax: they constitute a coordinate system for geocentric frame of reference, refer to different directions depending on different construals of landscape, and can appear in various syntactic positions
This paper argues that, taken together, these variations result from a complex interplay of the topographic environment, sociocultural practices, language uses, and linguistic repertoire, making a strong case for the Sociotopographic Model of spatial language (Palmer 2015; Palmer et al 2017, 2018)
Summary
This paper presents a case study of geocentric spatial terms in the Lamaholot language of eastern Indonesia (ISO 639-3 slp). The Lewotobi dialect of Lamaholot has a geocentric orientation system, known as a “directional” system, consisting of five grammatical terms, given in (1) These five directionals are divided into two groups depending on which axis they are based on: the mountain–sea axis or the up–down axis. The contrast between the land and the sea is “the fundamental axis of orientation in Austronesian societies” (Adelaar 1997: 53) and can even be traced back to Proto-Austronesian Studies of such geocentric spatial systems have a long history of descriptive, historical, and comparative research and have been attracting increasing attention, as summarized in Blust (2013: 305–314, 495–498), as well as in two general collections on this topic (Bennardo 2002; Senft 1997). This paper argues that, taken together, these variations result from a complex interplay of the topographic environment, sociocultural practices, language uses, and linguistic repertoire, making a strong case for the Sociotopographic Model of spatial language (Palmer 2015; Palmer et al 2017, 2018)
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