Abstract
Abstract Spatial reference systems have been investigated across many different languages and cultures, partly with the explicit aim of identifying preferred ways of thinking and talking about space in a particular culture. This paper addresses variability within a given language (and culture) by looking at diversity across everyday specialist domains. Wherever a domain requires people to interact with space in a specific way, conventions for thinking and talking about space arise that are far less common outside those domains. For instance, in sailing it is almost impossible to talk about ‘forward movement’, due to the various forces acting on the boat; these require the sailor to calculate a useful course relative to the goal direction. Based on a range of examples, this paper explores customary ways of talking about space across various domains, and highlights the underlying spatial-conceptual reference systems. This demonstrates how different situational domains call for different reference systems, contrary to beliefs that entire cultures can be associated with stable preferences for a specific reference system.
Highlights
How we think about spatial relationships in our environment depends on who we are as well as on features of the environment
This paper addresses variability within a given language by looking at diversity across everyday specialist domains
One of the questions frequently asked in spatial language research concerns the preference of a specific spatial reference system within a particular culture or language
Summary
How we think about spatial relationships in our environment depends on who we are as well as on features of the environment. Based on concrete examples taken from domains such as sailing, dancing, and horse riding, I aim to demonstrate that spatial concepts are determined by relevance to a specific context, which includes language and wider culture and the function and purpose of the spatial conceptualisation itself, situated in a certain spatial layout This complements previous insights on the various kinds of influence contributed by the environment’s topography (Palmer 2015), culture-engrained cognition (Levinson 2003), task specificity (Bohnemeyer 2011), and linguistic factors in their interplay with patterns of language use (Palmer et al 2018)
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