Most linguistic and cognitive representations of space depend on frames of reference (FoRs). We show that FoRs play an equally important role in representations of the orientation of entities and representations of their location and direction of motion. We propose that orientation is conceptually encoded, not in terms of metaphorical path functions (Jackendoff 1983), but in terms of. Equipped with the notion of vectors, we introduce a distinction between two classes of FoRs: classical “angular-anchored” FoRs and the previously unrecognised “head-anchored” FoRs. In English, angular-anchored relative FoRs dominate in both locative and orientation descriptions. In contrast, in Seri and Yucatec, two indigenous languages of Mexico, object-centred angular-anchored FoRs dominate in locative descriptions, but head-anchored FoRs dominate in orientation descriptions.
2020. BeingIn FrontIs Good—But Where IsIn Front? Preferences for Spatial Referencing Affect Evaluation. Cognitive Science 44:6
Hoffmann, Dorothea
2019. Restrictions on the Usage of Spatial Frames of Reference in Location and Orientation Descriptions: Evidence from Three Australian Languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics 39:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Wilke, Fiona, Andrea Bender & Sieghard Beller
2019. Flexibility in adopting relative frames of reference in dorsal and lateral settings. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 72:10 ► pp. 2393 ff.
Nikitina, Tatiana
2018. Frames of reference in discourse: Spatial descriptions in Bashkir (Turkic)
. Cognitive Linguistics 29:3 ► pp. 495 ff.
Cooperrider, Kensy, James Slotta & Rafael Núñez
2017. Uphill and Downhill in a Flat World: The Conceptual Topography of the Yupno House. Cognitive Science 41:3 ► pp. 768 ff.
MOORE, KEVIN EZRA
2017. Elaborating time in space: the structure and function of space–motion metaphors of time. Language and Cognition 9:2 ► pp. 191 ff.
Beller, Sieghard, Judith Bohlen, Lisa Hüther & Andrea Bender
2016. Perspective taking in referring to objects behind versus in front of an observer: Frames of reference, intraindividual consistency, and response latencies. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 69:7 ► pp. 1384 ff.
Beller, Sieghard, Henrik Singmann, Lisa Hüther & Andrea Bender
2015. Turn around to have a look? Spatial referencing in dorsal vs. frontal settings in cross-linguistic comparison. Frontiers in Psychology 6
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