the background to the study of the language of space

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1、1ThebackgroundtothestudyofthelanguageofspaceStephenC.LevinsonandDavidP.Wilkins1.1SpatiallanguageandcognitionSpatialcognitionisafundamentaldesignrequirementforeverymobilespecieswithafixedterritoryorhomebase.Andthereislittledoubtthatitplaysacentralroleinhumanthinkingandreasoning.Indeed,thee

2、videnceforthatcentralityisallaroundus,inourlanguagewherespatialmetaphorsareusedformanyotherdomains,intheobviouscognitiveutilityofdiagramsandtables,andinthespecialroleofplaceinmemory.TheideathatspaceisafundamentalintuitionbuiltintoournaturegoesbackatleasttoKant(1768),andtheideathatourappe

3、rceptionofspaceisgovernedbycognitiveuniversalsinformsmuchcurrentcognitivescience.Butinsomewayshumanspatialcognitionispuzzling.First,itisunspec-tacular–wearenotasaspecies,comparedtobeesorpigeons,batsorwhales,particularlygoodatfindingourwayaround.Second,humanspatialcognitionisobviouslyvaria

4、ble–hunters,sailorsandtaxi-driversareinadifferentleaguefromtheordinarycity-dweller.Thissuggeststhatmanyaspectsofeffectivespatialthinkingdependonculturalfactors,whichinturnsuggestslimitstocognitiveuniversalsinthisarea.Thelanguageofspacebecomesanimportantfocusofresearch,then,foranumberofre

5、asons.First,itmayhelptorevealtheunderlyingconceptualstruc-tureinhumanspatialthinking,whichmaybemuchhardertoextractfromaninarticulatespecies.Naturally,universalsofspatialthinkingshouldbereflectedinuniversalconceptualizationsinspatiallanguage.Second,andcontrastively,theveryvariabilityoflang

6、uagepromisesaninterestinginsightintothepossibleculturalvariabilityofspatialthinking.Third,thisreasoningpresumesaclosecorrelationbetweenspatiallanguageandspatialthinking–essentially,a(pos-siblypartial)isomorphismbetweensemanticsandconceptualstructure.Wherewehavelinguisticuniversals,thecor

7、relationmaybepresumedtobedrivenbycognitiveuniversals.Butwherewehaveculturaldivergences,languagemaynotsomuchreflectunderlyingcognition,asactivelydriveit.Allthissuggestsanaturallineofresearch,namelyaparallel,independentinvestigationofspatiallanguageandhumanspatialthinking.In