Re: Are 'spatial relations' Universals?

Harlan Messinger (gusty@clark.net)
5 Jul 1995 19:28:27 GMT

An aspect of the spatial relations question that has interested me is the
demonstrative and related concepts. English has "this" versus "that",
though this/that/yon has existed. In other languages:

French: ceci/cela = this/that
Chinese: zhei/nei = this/that
Spanish: este/ese/aquel = this/that one nearby/that one yonder
Japanese: kono/sono/ano = this/that one nearby/that one yonder

Similarly for here/there or here/there close by/there far away:

French: ici/la`
Chinse: zhe/na
Spanish: aqui'/ai'/alli' (but aca'/alla')
(I don't know the Japanese)

What other variations exist?

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There is no such thing as bad data, only data from bad homes.