A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO SPATIAL COGNITION: REPRESENTING SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN TONGAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

The present investigation addresses the triadic relationship between language, culture and cognition. It adopts a computational approach to cognition whereby a limited set of universal computations in interaction with the environment (including human environment) constructs a set of knowledge structures. A large subset of these knowledge structures is labeled 'culture' as it differs from another substantial subset of knowledge structures that are 'universal' in nature. Language, on the other hand, is the result of the interaction of the whole set of knowledge structures and a (modular) subset of the universal computations.
The chosen domain on which to conduct the investigation is that of spatial relationships as represented in language, culture and cognition. The first step that is undertaken is an intensional analysis of English spatial prepositions. A set of concepts is induced from the data analyzed and later employed to describe frames of reference, suggested to be essential components of spatial cognition.

Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural data is deemed necessary in order to provide some validity of the results obtained from the analyses of English. Consequently, linguistic, psychological, and cultural data was collected in the Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific. The analyses of these Tongan data constitute the second part of the investigation.
First, a lexico-semantic and intensional analyses of the linguistic representations of spatial relationships in Tongan language is conducted. The three Tongan spatial prepositions are analyzed followed by the analysis of a group of two sets of adverbs labeled 'directionals'. Then, a number of Tongan 'spatial' nouns are investigated. A major hypothesis is advanced in this section in which spatial relationships are represented both in Tongan 'directionals' and in Tongan 'spatial nouns' as organized ‘radially’ from a well defined 'center'.

Second, it follows the examination of the linguistic and psychological data obtained by the administration of a variety of tasks in order to investigate if one of the three types of frame of reference (relative, intrinsic, or absolute) has any specific status within Tongan spatial cognition. The analysis of the linguistic data shows how the three types of frame of reference are used according to specific needs and contexts. The analysis of the psychological data instead highlights a specific preference for the absolute frame of reference. The possibility that the nature of this preference lays within the peculiarity of the Tongan cultural milieu led to the administration of further tasks, 'drawing' and 'memory' tasks. The analyses of the data obtained by both tasks confirm and highlight a peculiarly Tongan or 'radial' representation of spatial relationships. It is also shown how the representations of spatial relationships intertwine with cultural parameters.
Third, three events in which Tongan patterns of exchange are instantiated are described and analyzed. The hypotheses already suggested about the 'radial' feature of Tongan spatial cognition find relevant support in the characteristics of these salient cultural events.

The findings of the analyses of the Tongan data together with those conducted on the English spatial prepositions are compatible with the computational framework proposed. A brief discussion of limitations and shortcomings of the investigation as well as salient avenues for future research opened up by the results obtained concludes the whole work.

This is my doctoral research and it spanned from 1993 through 1996.

It was based on the following fieldwork:

• 1993-94 The Kingdom of Tonga. August 1993-January 1994, 6 months

• 1994-95 The Kingdom of Tonga. August 1994-February 1995, 7 months

It resulted in the following publications:

• Bennardo, Giovanni (1993). Towards a Computational Approach to Spatial Cognition: An Investigation of Relevant Computations in the Visual System and the Linguistic System. Cognitive Science Technical Report, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Beckman Institute.
• Bennardo, Giovanni (1996). A Computational Approach to Spatial Cognition: Representing Spatial Relationships in Tongan Language and Culture. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.
• Bennardo, Giovanni (1999). The Conceptual Content of Tongan Directionals: Mental Representations of Space in Tongan. Rongorongo Studies, 9,2:39-61. Auckland, New Zealand: The Institute of Polynesian Languages and Literatures.
• Bennardo, Giovanni (2000a). A Conceptual Analysis of Tongan Spatial Nouns: From Grammar to Mind. Languages of the World, 12. Münich, Germany: Lincom Europa.
• Bennardo, Giovanni (2000b). Language and Space in Tonga: ‘The Front of the House is Where the Chief Sits!’ Anthropological Linguistics, 42,4:499-544.
• Bennardo, Giovanni (2001). The Kingdom of Tonga. In Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember (Eds),
  Countries and Their Cultures, Under the Auspices of the Human Relations Area Files, Vol. 4, pp. 2231-2237. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
• Bennardo, Giovanni. (2002a). Map Drawing in Tonga, Polynesia: Accessing Mental Representations of Space. Field Methods, 14, 4:390-417.
• Bennardo, Giovanni (2002b). "Mental Images of the Familiar: Cultural Strategies of Spatial Representations in Tonga." In Bennardo, G. (Ed.), Representing Space in Oceania: Culture in Language and Mind, pp. 159-177. Canberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.
• Bennardo, Giovanni (2002c). Antropologia e Scienza Cognitiva: L'Etnografia come Percorso Obbligato per gli Studi Cognitivi." [Anthropology and Cognitive Science: Ethnography as an Unavoidable Path for Cognitive Studies]. In Lorenzo Brutti and Anna Paini (Eds.), La Terra dei miei Sogni: Esperienze di Ricerca sul Campo in Oceania [The Land of my Dreams: Experiences of Fieldwork in Oceania], pp. 180-203. Roma: Meltemi Editore
  

It was presented at the following colloquia and conferences:

• "Towards a Computational Approach to Spatial Cognition: The Semantics of Some English Spatial Prepositions." Presentation at the Cognitive Anthropology Research Group, Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
  June 17, 1993
• "Towards a Semantic of English Spatial Prepositions: The Role of Pragmatics." Paper presented at the 4th International Pragmatics Conference, Kobe, Japan.
  July 27, 1993
  
• "A Computational Approach to the Semantics of English Spatial Prepositions: The Meaning of ‘at,’ ‘in,’ and ‘on’." Invited presentation at 'Atenisi University, Nuku'alofa, The Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific.
  September 4, 1993
  
• "The Linguistic Representation of Spatial Relationships in Tongan: Fieldwork Report." Presentation at the Cognitive Anthropology Research Group, Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
  April 21, 1994
  
• "The Representation of Spatial Relationships in Tongan Spatial Cognition and Culture: Fieldwork Report." Presentation at the Cognitive Anthropology Research Group, Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
  March 12, 1995
  
• "Gender, Power, and Space in a Tongan Fono: A Case Study." Paper presented at the 94th Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC.
  November 19, 1995
  
• "A Conceptual Analysis of Tongan Spatial Nouns: From Grammar to Mind." Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics and Pacific Area Contact Linguistics Association, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
  January 18, 1997
  
• "Tongan Spatial Nouns: A Conceptual Analysis." Invited presentation at 'Atenisi University, Nuku'alofa, The Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific.
  February 10, 1997
  
• "The Relationship between Language, Culture, and Mind or Cognitive Science as an Ethnographic Enterprise." Invited presentation at the Department of Anthropology Colloquia, University of California, Los Angeles.
  May 28, 1997

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