Space in Language and Cognition: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Figures......Page 13
Tables......Page 16
Preface......Page 19
Acknowledgements......Page 23
COMPANION BOOKS......Page 25
CHAPTER 1 The intellectual backround: two millennia of Western ideas about spatial thinking......Page 27
1.1 THE GREAT EYE OPENER – DIFFERENCES IN SPATIAL RECKONING......Page 30
1.2.1 Place and space, absolute and relative, in Western philosophy......Page 32
1.2.2 The anthropocentric bias......Page 35
1.2.3 Nativism and linguistic diversity......Page 40
1.2.4 The centrality of spatial thinking in human psychology......Page 42
1 .3 SYNOPSIS......Page 44
1 .4 CONCLUSIONS......Page 48
2 .1 THE CONCEPT OF A SPATIAL FRAME OF REFERENCE......Page 50
2.2 ‘FRAMES OF REFERENCE’ ACROSS MODALITIES AND THE DISCIPLINES THAT STUDY THEM......Page 51
2.3 LINGUISTIC FRAMES OF REFERENCE IN CROSS-LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE......Page 60
2.3.1 The three linguistic frames of reference......Page 64
2.3.1.1 Intrinsic frame of reference......Page 67
2.3.1.2 Relative frame of reference......Page 69
2.3.1.3 Absolute frame of reference......Page 73
2.3.2 The ‘logical structure’ of the three frames of reference......Page 76
2.3.3 Realigning frames of reference across is disciplines and modalities......Page 79
2.4 MOLYNEUX’S QUESTION......Page 82
3 .1 AN OVERVIEW OF SPATIAL LANGUAGE......Page 88
3.2 CONCEPTUAL DOMAINS UNDERLYING THE LANGUAGE OF SPACE......Page 90
3.3.2 Deictic systems......Page 95
3.3.3 Topology......Page 97
3.4 SOLUTIONS TO LOCATION DESCRIPTION UTILIZING FRAMES OF REFERENCE OR COORDINATE SYSTEMS......Page 100
3.4.1 The vertical dimension......Page 101
3.4.2.1 Intrinsic systems – towards a typologY......Page 102
3.4.2.2 The relative frame of reference and its subtypes......Page 110
3.4.2.3 The absolute frame of reference......Page 116
3.4.3 The distribution of frames of reference in languages......Page 118
3.5 MOTION......Page 121
3.6 THE GRAMMAR OF SPACE: PATTERNS OF LINGUISTIC CODING......Page 124
3 .7 CONCLUSIONS......Page 136
CHAPTER 4 Absolute minds: glimpses into two cultures......Page 138
4.1 GUUGU YIMITHIRR SPEAKERS OF HOPEVALE......Page 139
4.1.1.1 Guugu Yimithirr spatial description: the linguistic resources......Page 141
4.1.1.2 The communicative use of cardinal direction information......Page 147
4.1.2 The hypothesis of non-linguistic consequences......Page 149
4.1.2.1 The essential prerequisite: orientation and mental maps......Page 150
4.1.2.2 The non-linguistic coding of spatial scenes in memory and inference......Page 156
4.2.1 Background......Page 172
4.2.2 Informal investigations of Tenejapan ‘cognitive style’......Page 177
4.2.3 Non-verbal memory and inference......Page 180
4.2.3.1 Recall memory: the ‘animals’ task......Page 183
4.2.3.2 Recognition memory: the ‘chips’ task......Page 185
4.2.3.3 Motion-to-path transformation and recognition memory ‘Eric’s maze’ task......Page 186
4.2.3.4 Transitive inference......Page 188
4.2.3.5 Discussion of the Tenejapan experiments......Page 193
4 3 CONCLUSIONS......Page 194
5 .1 LINGUISTIC INFLUENCES ON THINKING: TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS......Page 196
5.2.1 Methodological preliminaries......Page 199
5.2.2 The gradient of spatial orientation......Page 200
5.2.2.1 Properties of the gradient measure......Page 202
5.3 OVERALL TEST OF THE CODING DIFFERENCE HYPOTHESIS......Page 204
5.3.1 Situation-specific typing: performance across matched linguistic and non-linguistic tasks......Page 206
5.3.2 The cross-situation prediction: from linguistic coding tendency to non-verbal coding......Page 207
5.3.2.2 Procedure......Page 209
5.3.2.3 Results......Page 210
5.3.3.1 Procedure......Page 212
5.3.3.2 Results......Page 213
5.4 LINGUISTIC VS. ECOLOGICAL/CULTURAL DETERMINISM: DIFFERENT SUBSAMPLES FROM THE SAME REGION......Page 214
5.4.1.1 Results......Page 215
5.4.2.1 Results......Page 217
5.5.1 Gender......Page 219
5.5.2 Literacy......Page 220
5.5.3 Age, schooling and conservatism: indices of cultural change......Page 222
5.6 ANOTHER POSSIBLE CONFOUND? THE ‘BIG OUTDOORS’ AND THE RELEVANCE OF LANDMARKS......Page 223
5.6.1.1 Method......Page 227
5.6.1.3 Discussion......Page 228
5.6.1.5 Results......Page 229
5 .7 A POSITIVE TEST OF LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM: THE CASE OF THE TZELTAL DEFECTIVE AXES......Page 232
5.8 CORRELATION AND CAUSATION: CHICKEN OR EGG?......Page 236
5.9 CONCLUSIONS......Page 239
6.1.1 The nature of wayfinding abilities......Page 242
6.1.2 The fall from grace: why are we such bad wayfinders?......Page 246
6.1.3 Linguistic representations and human navigation......Page 249
6.1.4 Dead reckoning abilities in relative vs. absolute communities......Page 251
6.1.4.1 Three ‘absolute’ communities......Page 253
6.1.4.2 Two ‘relative’ communities......Page 264
6.1.4.3 Conclusions to dead reckoning experiments......Page 267
6.2 GESTURE DURING SPEAKING: ‘DEAD RECKONING’ ON THE FLY......Page 270
6.2.1 The general picture from experiment and observation......Page 271
6.2.2 Distinctive properties of absolute gesture systems......Page 273
6.2.2.1 The semiotics......Page 275
6.2.2.2 Gesture morphology in absolute vs. relative gesture systems......Page 277
6.2.3 Absolute gesture as an interactive system......Page 288
6.2.4 Summary: absolute vs. relative gesture systems......Page 290
6.2.5 Deixis and absolute gestures......Page 292
6.3 DIFFERENT KINDS OF MENTAL MAPS......Page 297
6.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......Page 304
7.1 TURTLE ALL THE WAY DOWN: MEMES AND MIND......Page 306
7.2 THE RELATION BETWEEN LINGUISTIC AND CONCEPTUAL CATEGORIES......Page 317
7.3 NEO-WHORFINANISM......Page 327
7.4 THE ACQUISITION OF LINGUISTIC FRAMES OF REFERENCE BY CHILDREN......Page 333
7.5 UNIVERSALS VS. CULTURAL SPECIALIZATIONS......Page 341
7.6 INNATE IDEAS VS. CO-EVOLUTION AND BIASES: OR HOW WE LOST OUR MENTAL COMPASS......Page 342
1 THE INTELLECTUAL BACK ROUND: TWO MILLENNIA OF WESTERN IDEAS ABOUT SPATIAL THINKING......Page 352
2 FRAMES OF REFERENCE......Page 353
3 LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY......Page 359
4 ABSOLUTE MINDS: GLIMPSES INTO TWO CULTURES......Page 361
5 DIVERSITY IN MIND: METHODS AND RESULTS FROM A CROSS-LINGUISTIC SAMPLE......Page 365
6 BEYOND LANGUAGE: FRAMES OF REFERENCE IN WAYFINDING AND POINTING......Page 367
7 LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT......Page 373
References......Page 374
Language index......Page 394
Author index......Page 396
Subject index......Page 401