Spatial Expression in Caac

An Oceanic Language Spoken in the North of New Caledonia

Aurélie Cauchard

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781501503351
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

In this study, the author describes the linguistic expression of space in Caac, an endangered and under-documented Oceanic language spoken in New Caledonia, from both a descriptive and theoretical perspective. Part I provides a concise description of Caac grammar, presenting a first formal portrait of this language to the reader. Part II describes the formal and semantic features of the linguistic resources available in Caac to encode spatial relationships. Part III presents the theoretical framework based on and exploring further the vector analysis developed by Bohnemeyer (2012) and Bohnemeyer & O'Meara (2012).

In particular, the author proposes an additional sub-category of vectors (Head-unspecified Vectors) which accounts for the uses of centrifugal forms in Caac. The resulting framework provides a systematic account of expressions of orientation as well as location and motion, and to combine the Frames of Reference typology (Pederson et al. 1998; Levinson, 1996, 2003; Bohnemeyer & Levinson, not dated) with an analysis of deictic expressions within a single framework. Special attention, moreover, is given to the use of Caac absolute and deictic directionals in spatial constructions involving Fictive Motion. The analysis of Caac data leads us to introduce an additional category of Fictive Motion beyond those previously recognised in the literature, labelled here "Anticipated Paths", which in turn shed new light on the nature of vectors and the relationship between location, motion and orientation.

IILinguistic resources for spatial reference in Caac

Part II describes the linguistic resources involved in the expression of space in Caac. Starting with Basic Spatial Constructions (chapter 3), Part II then focuses on the semantic distinctions and compatibility features of each form involved in the encoding of spatial concepts. Spatial verbs, relational nouns, prepositions, adverbs and directionals are treated in detail in chapters 4, 5 and 6.

I will make regular reference to six spatial concepts and three spatial domains throughout Part II. The concepts of interest here are the following: the Figure i.e. the entity about which spatial information is given, and various spatial bearings in relation to which the Figure is found: the Ground in locative descriptions, the Goal, the Source and the Path in motion descriptions and the Cue in orientation descriptions. In location descriptions,60 speakers provide information about the place where the Figure is to be found. In motion descriptions, the Figure is typically described as moving away from a Source and/or towards a Goal. In orientation descriptions, speakers communicate on the direction in which a Figure is oriented (e.g. facing/turning his/her back against a Cue). Throughout Part II, I will also refer to the Deictic Centre, i.e. a reference point present in the context of utterance (typically the speech participants), and three Frames of Reference (FoRs), i.e. three systems of coordinates projecting a search region off a reference object. This search region can be based on the inherent facets of the reference object as in ‘in front of’, ‘to their left’ (intrinsic FoR), on the speaker’s viewpoint such as in ‘in front’, ‘to the left’ (relative FoR), on an environmental bearing, e.g. ‘north’, ‘downhill’ (absolute and geomorphic FoRs). These notions are defined in detail in Part III, chapter 7.

3Overview of location, motion and orientation constructions

This chapter reviews the types of basic constructions used to express location, motion and orientation and describes which spatial concepts are expressed in each construction and how they are encoded. This will facilitate the discussion about the role of the spatial terms described in chapters 4, 5, and 6.

3.1Basic Locative Constructions (BLCs)

The Basic Locative Construction (BLC) is the construction providing spatial information in response to a where-question. The degree of detail and the density of information conveyed in BLCs vary widely across languages. Some languages may systematically give precise information about the relation between the Figure and the Ground encoding for instance the shape of the Figure, e.g. Kwak’wala60 (Wakashan language, Canada; Berman 1990: 52–56 cited in Grinevald, 2006: 40), or the configuration of the Ground, e.g. Tzotzil61 (Mayan language, Haviland, 1992: 558 cited in Grinevald, 2006: 44). In Caac, the locative constructions do not provide such a detailed description of the spatial relationship between the Figure and the Ground, but focus either only on the location of the Figure (BLCs i, ii) or on the posture and the location of the Figure (BLC iii) or on both the existence and location of the Figure in presentative and existential constructions. Three constructions expressing location are examined below:

1. BLC with the verb e ‘be at’ followed by object suffixes
2. BLC with the verb mo ‘stay; live’ for past reference
3. BLC with posture verbs

3.1.1BLC with the locative verb e ‘be at’

The main Basic Locative Construction in Caac consists of the locative verb e ‘be at’ obligatorily followed by object suffixes encoding the entity to locate (the Figure) and by a spatial complement (119–120). This construction is the answer to the question: I pa X? ‘Where is X?’ (section 3.1.4).

The BLC with [e + object suffix] encodes spatial concepts in the following schema.
Construction 1:

The verb e with its object suffix encodes both the Location and the Figure and occurs at the beginning of the sentence. It is followed by a directional with an opti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• I The Caac language
• II Linguistic resources for spatial reference in Caac
• III Analysis of space in Caac
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index