Space in Languages. Linguistic Systems and Cognitive Categories

The volume under review – Space in Languages. Linguistic Systems and Cognitive Categories, edited by Maya Hickmann and Stéphane Robert, the 66th release in the Typological Studies in Language Series, collects a selection of papers delivered at a conference held in Paris at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in February 2003 under the same title. The volume gathers fifteen chapters in a three-part subdivision: “Typology of linguistic systems: Universals, variability, and change” , “The nature and uses of space in language and discourse”, and “Space, language, and cognition”. These theoretical approaches and methodologies weave together in a complementary fashion with the aim of tackling the issue from an interdisciplinary perspective. The outcome is a thought-provoking and enlightening volume which sheds light on Space from different scientific areas such as typological and diachronic linguistics, psycholinguistics, philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive and developmental psychology.