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Space and Culture: Giving Directions in Tonga
Author(s) -
Bennardo Giovanni
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1111/etho.12054
Subject(s) - sociocultural evolution , universality (dynamical systems) , sociology , competence (human resources) , variation (astronomy) , space (punctuation) , geography , psychology , epistemology , linguistics , social psychology , anthropology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , astrophysics
Giving directions is highly revealing of one's spatial competence, and it has been extensively investigated when researching universality and variation in the representation and use of spatial relationships. When giving directions in real‐world situations, cultural parameters coparticipate in the production of linguistic production. This work reports about two “giving directions” tasks submitted in Tonga, Polynesia, to a number of subjects. The findings of the analysis conducted on the results of the tasks reveal a “Tongan” approach to giving directions that is very effective as long as you share the localized sociocultural knowledge.