Variation in spatial language and cognition: exploring visuo-spatial thinking and speaking cross-linguistically
Résumé
Languages differ strikingly in how they encode spatial information. This variability is realized with spatial semantic elements mapped across languages in very different ways onto lexical/syntactic structures. For example, satellite-framed languages (e.g., English) express Manner in the verb and Path in satellites, while verb-framed languages (e.g., French) lexicalize Path in the verb, leaving Manner implicit or peripheral. Some languages are harder to classify into these categories, rather presenting equipollently framed systems, such as Chinese (serial-verb constructions) or Greek (parallel verb- and satellite-framed structures in equally frequent contexts). Such properties seem to have implications not only on the formulation/articulation levels, but also on the conceptualization level, thereby reviving questions concerning the language–thought interface. The present study investigates the relative impact of language-independent and language-specific factors on spatial representations across three typologically different languages (English–French–Greek) combining a variety of complementary tasks (production, non-verbal, and verbal categorization). The findings show that typological properties of languages can have an impact on both linguistic and non-linguistic organization of spatial information, open new perspectives for the investigation of conceptualization, and contribute more generally to the debate concerning the universal and language-specific dimensions of cognition.
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