A hierarchy of locations

Evidence From the Encoding of Direction in Adpositions and Cases

Bibliographic Data

ID3989494
AuthorsJoost Zwarts (0000-0002-8892-6523, Utrecht University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume48
Issue5
Publication date2010-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling.2010.032
OpenAlexW2094097611
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited11

The encoding of direction (place, goal, source, route) in systems of adpositions and local cases is not uniformly distributed over different locations (at, in, under), but can be shown to follow a hierarchical pattern. This pattern is compared with similar hierarchies proposed in the literature about the acquisition and typology of spatial language. Differences in semantic complexity and pragmatic salience between locations might explain why such a hierarchy exists

Encoding (memory) · Geography · Hierarchy · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Political science · Salience (neuroscience) · Typology · Artificial Intelligence · Categorization, perception, and language · Communication · Computer Science · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation