The social perception of space non-spatial determinants of the use of directionals in Tongan (Polynesia)

Abstract

In this paper it will be demonstrated that the use of so-called “directionals” in Tongan (mai, atu, ange, and hake) mainly depends on the social and communicative setting of the situation described, rather than on the positions or the movements of the people involved. Particular spatial interpretations seem to be a rather marginal aspect of a conceptual system created by routines of interaction between the observer and the observed.

This paper is based on a talk previously given at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Holland. I wish to thank the Cognitive Anthropology Research Group for many helpful suggestions and for having provided me with their space kit so I could use it during my fieldwork in Tonga. As for my fieldwork, I am extremely grateful to the Helu and the Makaafi family, who made my stay in Tonga most enjoyable and profitable, as well as to Melenaite Taumoefolau (Univ. of Auckland), who gave many valuable comments on the use of the directionals in question. I am also grateful to the Sonderforschungsbereich ‘Theorie des Lexikons’ (Düsseldorf, Köln, Wuppertal) for funding my research on word classes in Tongan.