How space gets into language: a novel approach

Francesco-Alessio Ursini

doi:10.5096/ASCS200953

How space gets into language: a novel approach

Francesco-Alessio Ursini

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

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Abstract

There exist several proposals regarding the relation between Cognition and Language with respect to 'Space', our understanding of objects and their changing position in the world. Some earlier approaches assume that Language conveys a radically impoverished amount of information than that processed at a visual level (Landau & Jackendoff, 1993). More recent approaches instead argue that 'spatial language' is closer in richness to 'spatial cognition', but do so by positing a blurrier boundary between the two levels of comprehension (Coventry & Garrod, 2004). In this paper I will offer an argument for a novel synthesis of these two positions, based on what counts as 'spatial cognition' and 'spatial language', and what core properties can be found across these two levels of information-processing. I will also propose that there is also a crucial difference between these two levels: that of fine-grainedness, namely the amount of information we wish to convey and to omit when we produce a sentence regarding objects and their position.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	ASCS09
Subtitle of host publication	proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science
Editors	Wayne Christensen, Elizabeth Schier, John Sutton
Place of Publication	North Ryde, NSW
Publisher	Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science
Pages	348-355
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Print)	9780646529189
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5096/ASCS200953
Publication status	Published - 2010
Event	Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science (9th : 2009) - Sydney Duration: 30 Sep 2009 → 2 Oct 2009

Conference

Conference	Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science (9th : 2009)
City	Sydney
Period	30/09/09 → 2/10/09

Bibliographical note

Copyright 2009 by the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. Publisher version archived with the permission of the Editor, ASCS09 : Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. This copy is available for individual, non-commercial use. Permission to reprint/republish this version for other uses must be obtained from the publisher.

Keywords

spatial cognition
spatial language
syntax
semantics
pragmatics
events
memory

Access to Document

10.5096/ASCS200953

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 227 KBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "How space gets into language: a novel approach",

abstract = "There exist several proposals regarding the relation between Cognition and Language with respect to 'Space', our understanding of objects and their changing position in the world. Some earlier approaches assume that Language conveys a radically impoverished amount of information than that processed at a visual level (Landau & Jackendoff, 1993). More recent approaches instead argue that 'spatial language' is closer in richness to 'spatial cognition', but do so by positing a blurrier boundary between the two levels of comprehension (Coventry & Garrod, 2004). In this paper I will offer an argument for a novel synthesis of these two positions, based on what counts as 'spatial cognition' and 'spatial language', and what core properties can be found across these two levels of information-processing. I will also propose that there is also a crucial difference between these two levels: that of fine-grainedness, namely the amount of information we wish to convey and to omit when we produce a sentence regarding objects and their position.",

keywords = "spatial cognition, spatial language, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, events, memory",

author = "Francesco-Alessio Ursini",

note = "Copyright 2009 by the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. Publisher version archived with the permission of the Editor, ASCS09 : Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. This copy is available for individual, non-commercial use. Permission to reprint/republish this version for other uses must be obtained from the publisher.; Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science (9th : 2009) ; Conference date: 30-09-2009 Through 02-10-2009",

year = "2010",

doi = "10.5096/ASCS200953",

language = "English",

isbn = "9780646529189",

pages = "348--355",

editor = "Wayne Christensen and Elizabeth Schier and John Sutton",

booktitle = "ASCS09",

publisher = "Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science",

}

Ursini, F-A 2010, How space gets into language: a novel approach. in W Christensen, E Schier & J Sutton (eds), ASCS09: proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, North Ryde, NSW, pp. 348-355, Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science (9th : 2009), Sydney, 30/09/09. https://doi.org/10.5096/ASCS200953

How space gets into language : a novel approach. / Ursini, Francesco-Alessio.

ASCS09: proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. ed. / Wayne Christensen; Elizabeth Schier; John Sutton. North Ryde, NSW : Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, 2010. p. 348-355.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

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ER -

How space gets into language: a novel approach

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Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Cite this