Giving voice to space : the grammar of Northern Alta spatial roots
(2022) In Folia Linguistica 56(2). p.351-387- Abstract
- Recent cross-linguistic studies on spatial language reveal a great diversity in the way languages encode spatial information. Yet, given that there are not many spatial studies that have systematically targeted languages with a Philippine-type voice system, it is not clear how spatial expression is structured in such languages. The aim of this study is to address this knowledge gap through an in-depth investigation of Northern Alta, a language presenting such a voice system. The study combines data from stimulus-based tasks with a modern documentation corpus of the language and elicited data to examine the linguistic strategies deployed in four different spatial subdomains: location, disposition, orientation, and routes. The results show... (More)
- Recent cross-linguistic studies on spatial language reveal a great diversity in the way languages encode spatial information. Yet, given that there are not many spatial studies that have systematically targeted languages with a Philippine-type voice system, it is not clear how spatial expression is structured in such languages. The aim of this study is to address this knowledge gap through an in-depth investigation of Northern Alta, a language presenting such a voice system. The study combines data from stimulus-based tasks with a modern documentation corpus of the language and elicited data to examine the linguistic strategies deployed in four different spatial subdomains: location, disposition, orientation, and routes. The results show that each subdomain favors a distinct set of derivational affixes and a particular set of lexical roots. It is argued that the morphological system of the language plays a crucial role in the structuring of spatial expression. It allows roots with spatial meanings such as ‘front’, ‘side’, ‘top’, and ‘back’ to derive a variety of spatial verbs that are key in several spatial domains. The study also shows that Philippine-type languages have important information to contribute to cross-linguistic studies of spatial language. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/01401af1-9265-4111-9fb4-ea656ec5210f
- author
- Garcia, Alex LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-06-30
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- grammar of space, Northern Alta, Philippine-type languages, relational nouns, spatial relations
- in
- Folia Linguistica
- volume
- 56
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 37 pages
- publisher
- Mouton de Gruyter
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85133784958
- ISSN
- 1614-7308
- DOI
- 10.1515/flin-2022-2027
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 01401af1-9265-4111-9fb4-ea656ec5210f
- date added to LUP
- 2022-07-04 16:35:31
- date last changed
- 2023-12-01 06:19:17
@article{01401af1-9265-4111-9fb4-ea656ec5210f,
abstract = {{Recent cross-linguistic studies on spatial language reveal a great diversity in the way languages encode spatial information. Yet, given that there are not many spatial studies that have systematically targeted languages with a Philippine-type voice system, it is not clear how spatial expression is structured in such languages. The aim of this study is to address this knowledge gap through an in-depth investigation of Northern Alta, a language presenting such a voice system. The study combines data from stimulus-based tasks with a modern documentation corpus of the language and elicited data to examine the linguistic strategies deployed in four different spatial subdomains: location, disposition, orientation, and routes. The results show that each subdomain favors a distinct set of derivational affixes and a particular set of lexical roots. It is argued that the morphological system of the language plays a crucial role in the structuring of spatial expression. It allows roots with spatial meanings such as ‘front’, ‘side’, ‘top’, and ‘back’ to derive a variety of spatial verbs that are key in several spatial domains. The study also shows that Philippine-type languages have important information to contribute to cross-linguistic studies of spatial language.}},
author = {{Garcia, Alex}},
issn = {{1614-7308}},
keywords = {{grammar of space; Northern Alta; Philippine-type languages; relational nouns; spatial relations}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{351--387}},
publisher = {{Mouton de Gruyter}},
series = {{Folia Linguistica}},
title = {{Giving voice to space : the grammar of Northern Alta spatial roots}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/flin-2022-2027}},
doi = {{10.1515/flin-2022-2027}},
volume = {{56}},
year = {{2022}},
}