Spatial referencing across languages: Cultural preferences and cognitive implications

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Languages differ with regard to which frames of reference (FoR) they provide for describing spatial constellations, and to which of these are preferentially used. Whether these differences affect other cognitive processes is subject to controversial debate. This is partly due to the fact that the basic FoRs focussed so far are alternatively available in most languages. In this project, we intend to compare two variants (reflexive and translational), which are mutually exclusive and therefore allow for straightforward predictions. The project pursues three main goals: to investigate (1) factors of intra- and intercultural variability in reference preferences, (2) implications of these preferences for attention, representation and evaluation of the referenced objects, and (3) metaphoric extension of spatial preferences to the domain of time. Methods include field-studies, cross-linguistic experiments and multinomial modelling. Altogether five languages (German, US-English, Swedish, Tongan, and Chinese) will be included in this comparison as they differ in critical aspects regarding spatial and/or temporal references.