“Time is not a line.” Temporal gestures in Chol Mayan

Abstract

The metaphorical mapping of time and space has been attested in a variety of languages and cultures around the world. Although much research has been devoted to documenting variations in the direction and orientation of such metaphorical timelines according to cross-linguistic differences, the inherent linearity of this model of temporal representation is rarely called into question. The present study provides gestural evidence which shows that speakers of Chol, a Maya language spoken in Chiapas, Mexico, do not conceptualize time in terms of such abstract mental timelines or axes. A description of temporal reference and temporal gesture in Chol is provided, focusing on how deictic (past/present/future) and sequential (earlier/later) relations between events are expressed in this language, followed by a qualitative analysis of the types of gestures that accompany these kinds of temporal expressions. It will be argued that, instead of reflecting the metaphorical mapping of time onto space in a timeline, temporal gestures in Chol often reflect the aspectual semantics of the sentences where they occur.