| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this project was to examine, based on recent findings by the Cognitive Anthropology Group at Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistic, the ways in which spatial notions are linguistically encoded and (re) constructed in speech in three languages, Japanese, English, and Nepali. Initally, I planned to achieve three tasks here, (I) transcription and analysis of previously collected audio/visual data, (ii) data collection in these languages from new environments, and (iii) conference presentations and publications of current findings. My general assessment is that most of the tasks were adequately conducted-though with some reservations, and I will summarze below the claims made in the published/presented works in (iii)
First, I set out to overview the recent findengs in spatial cognition studies in linguistic anthropology, and confirmed that they could be the key concepts in order to offer a principled account of the variable use of spatial frames of reference in natural di
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scourse. Specifically, I pointed out that a mental imagery constructed through spatial experience in the world could emerge though both cognitively shared and locally constrained modes of spatialencoding. Such imageries may be reflected upon the attentional focusing and psychological involvement, along with the variable use of spatio-temporal deictics
I also looked at the Japanese norms of spatial description by examining wayfinding expressions used in commercial signboards. I should that the variability and imbalance in use of the absolute/ relative/ intrinsic frames of reference seem to be constrained by the universal "translatability grid" defined by Levinson (1996) and language-specifically accustomed referential practice. Also, I noted at some conference presentations that such shifts of frames of reference could be marked not only by verbal but also nonverbal modalities including gestures, and are deeply related to the discourse structure in general-although this study has not yet officially published. Finally, one of the objectives of the current project, a study of Nepalese gestures, still remains incomplete- a task that needs to be urgently taken care of to make the current project truly meaningful Less
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