Alverson's purpose is to show a universal experiential basis for meaning invariance, particularly in linguistic/cultural manifestations of time. Drawing on work in cognitive linguistics, Alverson stresses categorization and schematicization based on embodied experience as the root of meaning. Time experience is described in terms of a universal spatial template, and linguistic time expressions are metaphors and collocations derived from this template. Such time expressions from English, Mandarin, Hindi, and Sesotho are adduced. The different philosophical traditions of time in the West, India, and China are reviewed, and it is concluded that spatialization of time is not a Western artifact. Alverson's use of schemata is deemed an important development, but he is criticized regarding his database and particularly his spatialization proposal. It is noted, e.g., that spatial metaphors of time are neither universal nor comprehensive as a model of time. Also, the process by which bodily experience is translated into conceptualization is too-little understood at this point to allow firm conclusions. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (J. Fife in LLBA 1996, vol. 30, n. 2, (c) CSA [1995]. All rights reserved.)