Expression of topological relations in mapudungun

Abstract

The study of spatial semantics has experienced a strong development during the last decades, thanks to typologically oriented research, which has shown the inadequacy of some traditional linguistic and cognitive assumptions. In this context, our main objective is to describe the expression of topological relations in Mapudungun, which is a central part of spatial conceptualization. With this purpose, the Topological Relations Pictures Series test by Bowerman and Pederson was used. The test was done by seven native speakers of Mapudungun. This prompt is a group of 71 images illustrating spatial relationships, serving to contextualize the elicitation of locative expressions. As a result, three basic locative constructions were recognized, which differ with respect to the use of: a general locative verb (mülen ‘have, be’) or specific verbs (e.g., anün ‘sit’, konün ‘descend’), and an adposition with a general locative sense (mew) versus specific adpositions (e.g., wente ‘above’, pu ‘inside’). In addition, the scenes that trigger the use of the different linguistic markers were identified. Finally, we discuss the meaning of these findings for the typologies of locative predicates.