This paper addresses the question of the role of meaning in perception in spatial semantics and i... more This paper addresses the question of the role of meaning in perception in spatial semantics and its figure-ground alignments. At focus are congruent linguistic patterns of figure-ground reversals. This commonly known aspect in Gestalt psychology is not limited to visual processes only; it also applies to linguistic encoding patterns as will be shown in this paper for a selected sample of languages. It is argued here that the reversal patterns show the human capacity for constructing and relating objects in space depends not only on objectively given features, but subjective encoding decisions as well. The hypothesis is that the parallels between language and cognition indicate a bridging element between those levels of human organization. This element can be found in embodied cognition, arguably a crucial mediator between the two information levels. Data is presented from a perceptual-driven elicitation tool used on a small number of languages, some with a non-written tradition. A p...
This paper places the concept of ‘common sense geography’ as developed by the members of Topoi re... more This paper places the concept of ‘common sense geography’ as developed by the members of Topoi research group C-5 within the context of ancient geographical literature. For the first time, a consistent model of arranging and classifying Greek and Roman geographical texts from a historical perspective is presented.
This paper addresses the question of the role of meaning in perception in spatial semantics and i... more This paper addresses the question of the role of meaning in perception in spatial semantics and its figure-ground alignments. At focus are congruent linguistic patterns of figure-ground reversals. This commonly known aspect in Gestalt psychology is not limited to visual processes only; it also applies to linguistic encoding patterns as will be shown in this paper for a selected sample of languages. It is argued here that the reversal patterns show the human capacity for constructing and relating objects in space depends not only on objectively given features, but subjective encoding decisions as well. The hypothesis is that the parallels between language and cognition indicate a bridging element between those levels of human organization. This element can be found in embodied cognition, arguably a crucial mediator between the two information levels. Data is presented from a perceptual-driven elicitation tool used on a small number of languages, some with a non-written tradition. A p...
This paper places the concept of ‘common sense geography’ as developed by the members of Topoi re... more This paper places the concept of ‘common sense geography’ as developed by the members of Topoi research group C-5 within the context of ancient geographical literature. For the first time, a consistent model of arranging and classifying Greek and Roman geographical texts from a historical perspective is presented.
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