This project explores the role that representations of space play in constructing representations of time. Around the world people rely on space to represent time, whether in cultural artifacts (e.g. graphs, time-lines, clocks, sundials, sand drawings, hourglasses, and calendars) or through linguistic expressions (e.g., employing terms like forward, back, long, short to talk about the order and duration of events). Recent psychological research has suggested that the mental representation of time is also based in space. If it is the case that people build representations of time out of representations of space, then it follows that people who use different spatial representations should also think differently about time. We test this hypothesis through non-linguistic experimentation and ethnographic inquiry in around a dozen languages.

Researchers

• Lera Boroditsky on English, Mandarin
• Penelope Brown on Tzeltal
• Conny de Vos on Kata Kolok
• Hilário de Sousa on Cantonese
• Sebastian Fedden on Mian
• Orly Fuhrman on Hebrew
• Alice Gaby on Kuuk Thaayorre
• Clair Hill on Umpila
• Olivier Le Guen on Yucatec
• Stephen C. Levinson on Yélî Dnye
• Asifa Majid
• Gunter Senft on Kilivila
• Mark Sicoli on Zapotec

Contact persons

Asifa Majid and Alice Gaby