Onomastics Online
31 March 2022, 2:00 PM (UTC)
Martin Thiering
Priv.-Doz. Dr. phil. habil., RWTH Aachen University
Associate professor at Technische Universität Berlin
Research Group Leader at Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Toponyms and Landmarks as Cognitive Maps in Dene Chipewyan and Eipomek

Abstract: This presentation focuses on spatial concepts primarily, but not exclusively in Dene Chipewyan (Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada) and Eipomek (spoken in the central mountains of the Province of Papua, West New Guinea). It explores the degree to which environmental experience and spatial orientation is reflected in language and other semiotic encoding systems. The objective is to present similarities and differences in the encoding patterns as is shown in the various degrees of specificity and language affordances. These degrees are echoed in the semantics of, e.g., classificatory verbs, postpositions, body parts, toponyms, landmarks and various figure-ground asymmetries. Data will be presented showing the various figure-ground asymmetries in spatial encoding processes. Hence, the general aim is to survey some of the very fundamental spatial notions based on environmental landmarks.

Link to the Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 681 0364 5457
Passcode: 729562