Comment Re:Sapir Whorf is BS (Score 2, Informative) 258
Disclaimer: I am really an expert in spatial cognition, yadda-yadda yadda, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
The easy question first:
> describe their orientation as upwards, downwards, etc
> Got any info on that?
I think Stephen C. Levinson (perhaps with Penelope Brown) working on Tenejapa Tzeltal argued that there is only the Uphill/Downhill/Side in that language. This seems to be specific to the Tenejapa variant, presumably having something to do with the locale there. I've been working on Petalcingo Tzeltal and have not come across this, but that may not mean much - I really did not investigate it, it is too complicated ;)
> What if you ask the absolute direction-language guy,
> With which hand do you throw a spear?"?
Hmmmm... I don't _really_ know, but I could speculate. If the language really only has cardinal reference, then possible answers might be "THIS hand" (if the interlocutor is visible) and "The one currently north/south and I am facing east/west" though this last one seems silly. There is an interesting typological question as to whether there are ANY languages that have ONLY cardinal reference and nothing else - I really don't know the answer, but it seems unlikely. I think usually there are different modalities available for different tasks: absolute for open spaces and large distances, perhaps relative or body-part analogy ("the coke bottle is at the foot of the table") for proximate locations. So my coke bottle example in a previous post is a bit unfortunate in that respect - perhaps a house and a tree would be better.
So clearly there are languages where the cardinal reference is PRIMARY (at least for certain tasks), but that is different.
The easy question first:
> describe their orientation as upwards, downwards, etc
> Got any info on that?
I think Stephen C. Levinson (perhaps with Penelope Brown) working on Tenejapa Tzeltal argued that there is only the Uphill/Downhill/Side in that language. This seems to be specific to the Tenejapa variant, presumably having something to do with the locale there. I've been working on Petalcingo Tzeltal and have not come across this, but that may not mean much - I really did not investigate it, it is too complicated
> What if you ask the absolute direction-language guy,
> With which hand do you throw a spear?"?
Hmmmm... I don't _really_ know, but I could speculate. If the language really only has cardinal reference, then possible answers might be "THIS hand" (if the interlocutor is visible) and "The one currently north/south and I am facing east/west" though this last one seems silly. There is an interesting typological question as to whether there are ANY languages that have ONLY cardinal reference and nothing else - I really don't know the answer, but it seems unlikely. I think usually there are different modalities available for different tasks: absolute for open spaces and large distances, perhaps relative or body-part analogy ("the coke bottle is at the foot of the table") for proximate locations. So my coke bottle example in a previous post is a bit unfortunate in that respect - perhaps a house and a tree would be better.
So clearly there are languages where the cardinal reference is PRIMARY (at least for certain tasks), but that is different.
