Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T22:48:26.080Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Changing place in English and German: language-specific preferences in the conceptualization of spatial relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Mary Carroll
Affiliation:
University of Heidelberg
Jan Nuyts
Affiliation:
Universitaire Instellung Antwerpen, Belgium
Eric Pederson
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik, The Netherlands
Get access

Summary

Introduction

This study looks at how speakers of English and German structure space when describing entities such as the layout of a town or village or when giving instructions on how to assemble parts of an object. The cross-linguistic comparison focuses on the types of spatial concepts used to structure space in complex tasks of this kind and how they differ across languages.

We assume that with the definition of a specific communicative task such as a description or instruction, the information to be expressed is not mapped directly from memory into linguistic form (see also Garrod & Sanford 1988, Nuyts 1992). In language production, speakers generate a temporary conceptual structure which focuses a specific set of pragmatic, semantic, and syntactic options and sets guidelines for the process of mapping information into linguistic form.

This conceptual structure consists of a network of abstract conceptual domains such as space, time, objects, events, modality, etc. which allows speakers to establish a coherent frame when locating entities in space and time, when selecting viewpoints on the events related, when specifying their validity and so on (Stutterheim & Klein 1989). How is this temporary level of representation organized? The body of information expressed in a specific communicative task can be treated as an organized structure which answers a specific question, or quaestio. A task which the speaker views as best resolved by presenting information in a narrative form answers the question What happened to x at time t1 at t2, etc.?

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×