Conceptualizing the future often relies on spatial frameworks, which seems to be an almost universal tendency observed across languages and cultures. This talk explores the linguistic strategies used to discuss the future across different languages, focusing on how cultural and cognitive differences might influence these expressions. Time is abstract, intangible, and cannot be perceived directly (Pöppel, 1997). Our awareness of time’s passage is connected to memory (Lewis & Miall, 2006), and, according to some authors, our conceptualization often relies on metaphors, particularly from spatial domains (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999). However, some claim that if there is no other way to talk about abstract concepts, the relation is unlikely to be metaphorical (Tversky, 2019). Space, being more concrete, is frequently used to conceptualize time due to their connection through processes of change and motion (Moore, 2011). Additionally, time, space and quantity seem to be computed by a general magnitude system of the brain (Walsh, 2003). Cross-cultural differences in spatial representation (Levinson, 2003) raise questions about whether spatial conceptualization affects time perception universally, or if it varies by culture. The present talk will include an overview of different options when it comes to talking about the future based on Bender and Beller’s review (2014) of theoretical accounts and empirical findings related to using spatial frames of reference to talk about time. Besides this, the results of empirical procedures, one published (Stamenković, Figar and Tasić, 2022) and one unpublished will be evaluated with regard to expressing the future events.

References:

Bender, A., & Beller, S. (2014). Mapping spatial frames of reference onto time: A review of theoretical accounts and empirical findings. Cognition, 132, 342–382.

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. Basic Books.

Levinson, S. C. (2003). Space in Language and Cognition: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity. Cambridge University Press.

Lewis, P. A., & Miall, R. C. (2006). Remembering the time: A continuous clock. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 401–406.

Moore, K. E. (2011). Ego-perspective and field-based frames of reference: Temporal meanings of FRONT in Japanese, Wolof, and Aymara. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 759–776.

Pöppel, E. (1997). A hierarchical model of temporal perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1(2), 56–61.

Stamenković, D., Figar, V., & Tasić, M. (2022). Facing salient and non-salient time sequence orientation types expressed by adverbs in English, Mandarin and Serbian. Linguistics, aop.

Tversky, B. (2019). Mind in Motion: How Action Shapes Thought. Basic Books.

Walsh, V. (2003). A theory of magnitude: Common cortical metrics of time, space and quantity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(11), 483–488.