RUI: Typology and Topology, the Acquisition and Use of Tzotzil Spatial Language

摘要空间关系的语言表达是语义学、认知人类学、和语言习得。关于语言编码的空间概念的性质，它们在人类感知和认知中的起源，以及它们的习得顺序，普遍论者已经提出了主张。然而，在非欧洲语境中对空间语言的研究很少，对日常生活中空间语言使用的研究更是少之又少。这个项目调查了Zinacantec Tzotzil(玛雅，恰帕斯，墨西哥)中挑战当前类型学主张的三个空间域：(1)运动动词；(2)涉及“支持”和“遏制”的位置词根；以及(3)不可替代地拥有编码“解剖”空间关系的名词性词根。这个项目扩展了对成人Tzotzil空间语义学的现有研究，调查了这些语言子域中的元素在自然和半自然环境中的使用情况：在日常工作中，以及在构建的互动“空间游戏”中。该项目还从横向和纵向两个方面探讨了Zinacantec儿童对这些词汇系统的结构和使用的习得。该项目将首先阐明特定文化交流实践的语义系统和索引结构之间的相互关系。其次，它将揭示空间概念的习得和特定语言的空间表征系统之间可能存在的相互作用。

ABSTRACT The linguistic expression of spatial relations is central to recent work in semantics, cognitive anthropology, and language acquisition. Universalist claims have been advanced about the nature of linguistically coded spatial concepts, their origins in human perception and cognition, and their order of acquisition. There are, however, few studies of spatial language in non- European contexts, and even fewer studies of the use of spatial language in ordinary life. This projects investigates three spatial domains in Zinacantec Tzotzil (Mayan, Chiapas, Mexico) which challenge current typological claims: (1) verbs of motion; (2) positional roots involving "support" and "containment"; and (3) inalienably possessed nominal roots encoding "anatomical" spatial relations. Extending existing studies of spatial semantics in adult Tzotzil, this project investigates the use of elements from these linguistic subdomains in both natural and semi-natural contexts: in everyday work, and in constructed interactive "space games". The project also explores the Zinacantec child's acquisition of the structure and use of these lexical systems, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The project will elucidate, first mutual relationships between semantic systems and the indexical structure of specific cultural communicative practices. Second, it will reveal possible interactions between the acquisition of spatial concepts and language-specific systems of spatial representation.