Article published In:
Studies in LanguageVol. 32:1 (2008) ► pp.93–136
Orientation as a strategy of spatial reference
This paper explores a strategy of spatial expression which utilizes orientation, a way of describing the spatial relationship of entities by means of reference to their facets. We present detailed data and analysis from two languages, Jahai (Mon-Khmer, Malay Peninsula) and Lavukaleve (Papuan isolate, Solomon Islands), and supporting data from five more languages, to show that the orientation strategy is a major organizing principle in these languages. This strategy has not previously been recognized in the literature as a unitary phenomenon, and the languages which employ it present particular challenges to existing typologies of spatial frames of reference.
Cited by
Cited by 22 other publications
Abarbanell, Linda, Rachel Montana & Peggy Li
2011. Revisiting the Plasticity of Human Spatial Cognition. In Spatial Information Theory [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6899], ► pp. 245 ff. 
Bohnemeyer, Jürgen, Eve Danziger, Jonathon Lum, Ali Alshehri, Elena Benedicto, Joe Blythe, Letizia Cerqueglini, Katharine Donelson, Alyson Eggleston, Alice Gaby, Yen-Ting Lin, Randi Moore, Tatiana Nikitina, Hywel Stoakes & Mayangna Yulbarangyang Balna
2022. Reference frames in language and cognition: cross-population mismatches. Linguistics Vanguard 8:s1 ► pp. 175 ff.
Burenhult, Niclas
2008. Spatial coordinate systems in demonstrative meaning. Linguistic Typology 12:1
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.
Dunn, Vivien, Felicity Meakins & Cassandra Algy
2021. Acquisition or shift?. In Variation Rolls the Dice [Contact Language Library, 59], ► pp. 105 ff.
Edmonds-Wathen, Cris
2014. Influences of indigenous language on spatial frames of reference in Aboriginal English. Mathematics Education Research Journal 26:2 ► pp. 169 ff.
Edmonds-Wathen, Cris
2019. Linguistic methodologies for investigating and representing multiple languages in mathematics education research. Research in Mathematics Education 21:2 ► pp. 119 ff.
Edmonds-Wathen, Cris
2022. Changes in spatial frames of reference use in Iwaidja in different intergenerational contexts. Linguistics Vanguard 8:s1 ► pp. 101 ff.
Eggleston, Alyson, Elena Benedicto & Mayangna Yulbarangyang Balna
2011. Spatial frames of reference in Sumu-Mayangna. Language Sciences 33:6 ► pp. 1047 ff.
Garcia-Laguia, Alexandro Xavier
2022. Giving voice to space: the grammar of Northern Alta spatial roots. Folia Linguistica 56:2 ► pp. 351 ff.
Heegård, Jan & Henrik Liljegren
2018. Geomorphic coding in Palula and Kalasha. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia ► pp. 1 ff.
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.
Lim, Teckwyn & Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz
2022. A Review of Human-Elephant Ecological Relations in the Malay Peninsula: Adaptations for Coexistence. Diversity 14:1 ► pp. 36 ff.
Lum, Jonathon
2021. The intrinsic frame of reference and the Dhivehi ‘FIBO’ system. Cognitive Linguistics 32:4 ► pp. 703 ff.
Meakins, Felicity
2011. Spaced Out: Intergenerational Changes in the Expression of Spatial Relations by Gurindji People. Australian Journal of Linguistics 31:1 ► pp. 43 ff.
Meakins, Felicity, Caroline Jones & Cassandra Algy
2016. Bilingualism, language shift and the corresponding expansion of spatial cognitive systems. Language Sciences 54 ► pp. 1 ff.
O’Meara, Carolyn, Niclas Burenhult, Mikael Rothstein & Peter Sercombe
2018. Representing space and place: hunter-gatherer perspectives. Hunter Gatherer Research 4:3 ► pp. 287 ff.
Palmer, Bill
2015. Chapter 8. Topography in language. In Language Structure and Environment [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts, 6], ► pp. 177 ff.
Palmer, Bill, Alice Gaby, Jonathon Lum & Jonathan Schlossberg
2018. Socioculturally Mediated Responses to Environment Shaping Universals and Diversity in Spatial Language. In Proceedings of Workshops and Posters at the 13th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2017) [Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, ], ► pp. 195 ff.
Palmer, Bill, Jonathon Lum, Jonathan Schlossberg & Alice Gaby
2017. How does the environment shape spatial language? Evidence for sociotopography. Linguistic Typology 21:3
Polian, Gilles & Juergen Bohnemeyer
2011. Uniformity and variation in Tseltal reference frame use. Language Sciences 33:6 ► pp. 868 ff.
Shapero, Joshua A.
2017. Does Environmental Experience Shape Spatial Cognition? Frames of Reference Among Ancash Quechua Speakers (Peru). Cognitive Science 41:5 ► pp. 1274 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.