Space in Language and Cognition: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity

Language Culture and Cognition

by Stephen C. Levinson

Spatial orientation and direction are core areas of human and animal thinking. But, unlike animals, human populations vary considerably in their spatial thinking. Revealing that these differences correlate with language (which is probably mostly responsible for the different cognitive styles), this book includes many cross-cultural studies investigating spatial memory, reasoning, types of gesture and wayfinding abilities. It explains the relationship between language and cognition and cross-cultural differences in thinking to students of language and the cognitive sciences.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Psychology, Philosophy

414 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 1999

Reviews

[Stars, and Such · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty legitimate case for multiple frames of reference (absolute or relative, etc) across languages. Some awesome diagrams. Some diagrams that gave me a stroke. But it’s a feat anyway to draw, in 2D, how we make words about 3D space.