2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Space cognition seen through linguistic expressions, with particular reference to the localization of an action
| Project/Area Number |
15500167
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Cognitive science
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| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
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Principal Investigator |
YAMADA Hiroshi University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, professor, 大学院人文社会科学研究科, 教授 (10200734)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
OYA Toshiaki University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Humanifies and Stcial Sciences, Associate Professor, 大学院人文社会科学研究科, 助教授 (60213881)
SASAKI Yoshihito University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Humanifies and Stcial Sciences, Associate Professor, 大学院人文社会科学研究科, 助教授 (40250998)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | spatial cognition / cognitive linguistics / locative / preposition / argument orientation / French / Chinese / German |
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| Research Abstract |
This research aims at analysing the various relations that space holds with an event or an action, and how these relations are encoded into linguistic expressions. We group these relations into four types : (1) Localization of an object, as in 'there is a newspaper on the table' ; (2) localization of an event, as in 'he is reading a newspaper in his office' ; (3) localization of an action, as in 'he is writing a letter on the table' ; and (4) object of an action, as in 'where is he looking? '.
Localizations of an event and an action differ in that, for an event, all objects involved (such as 'he' and 'a newspaper') are in the same space ('his office'), and for an action, only one of the two objects is in the space ('the letter' is on the table, but 'he' is not on the table).
The space that serves as the reference point for localization of an action has a tendency to take on the character of an instrument, which leads us to examine the boundaries between the locative and the instrument.
The space that serves as the object of an action raises interesting cross-linguistic problems. For example, the Japanese word 'doko(wo)' ('where') acts quite freely as the direct object of many verbs, but the corresponding French construction, with 'ou', is severely restricted.
To understand these problems, we perform a comparative analysis of these terms, based on Japanese and French, and to a lesser extent German and Chinese.
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