Environmental adaptation in language: Spatial grammar, landscape knowledge and human survival
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Environmental adaptation in language : Spatial grammar, landscape knowledge and human survival. / Pharao Hansen, Magnus; O'Meara, Carolyn.
In: Language Dynamics and Change, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2020, p. 230-258.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental adaptation in language
T2 - Spatial grammar, landscape knowledge and human survival
AU - Pharao Hansen, Magnus
AU - O'Meara, Carolyn
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - We argue that the human ability to linguistically describe spatial locations, relations and paths is likely to contribute importantly to human survival, and that consequently the relation between linguistic elements and structures used in spatial reference, and the environment in which humans navigate, ought to be of concern for evolutionary studies of language. We make the case for systematically studying the correspondences between the structures of human spatial language and the spatially structured practices of human groups within specific landscapes, and for considering this relation within a diachronic framework, as a process of cultural and linguistic adaptation to the physical environment. The last section presents the research design of the Nahuatl Space Project, which investigates the possibility of environmental adaptation of spatial language in four varieties of the Nahuan languages of Mexico.
AB - We argue that the human ability to linguistically describe spatial locations, relations and paths is likely to contribute importantly to human survival, and that consequently the relation between linguistic elements and structures used in spatial reference, and the environment in which humans navigate, ought to be of concern for evolutionary studies of language. We make the case for systematically studying the correspondences between the structures of human spatial language and the spatially structured practices of human groups within specific landscapes, and for considering this relation within a diachronic framework, as a process of cultural and linguistic adaptation to the physical environment. The last section presents the research design of the Nahuatl Space Project, which investigates the possibility of environmental adaptation of spatial language in four varieties of the Nahuan languages of Mexico.
KW - Det Humanistiske Fakultet
KW - adaptation
KW - frames of reference
KW - landscape
KW - language evolution
KW - space
U2 - 10.1163/22105832-bja10002
DO - 10.1163/22105832-bja10002
M3 - Tidsskriftartikel
VL - 10
SP - 230
EP - 258
JO - Language Dynamics and Change
JF - Language Dynamics and Change
SN - 2210-5824
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 241994861