{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78622"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78622","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"On Space in Conversation: Coordinating Perspectives in Spatial Reference","abstract":"Ph.D.","abstract_html":"Ph.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Donelson, Katharine; 0000-0002-8053-9561"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Bohnemeyer, Juergen","Linguistics"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-10-26T02:56:57Z","date_published":"2018-10-26T02:56:57Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:14Z","subjects":["linguistics","Latin American studies","cognitive psychology"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78622","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Bohnemeyer, Juergen","Linguistics"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Donelson, Katharine; 0000-0002-8053-9561"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2018-10-26T02:56:57Z","2018","2018-08-10 11:52:48"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["State University of New York at Buffalo"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text","Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["linguistics","Latin American studies","cognitive psychology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78622"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ph.D.","When speakers choose to describe the locations, paths, or orientations of entities in the world, they must make a choice that they are able to calculate and other conversational participants can understand. The study of the use of spatial frame of reference, conceptual coordinate systems that allow a speaker to locate an object (a figure), with respect to a ground, from a perspective (an anchor), has shown us that there is variation in the choices that communities and individuals make. Previous studies have found that Tseltal speaking communities make use of absolute frames of reference anchored with the inclination of the mountain on which they live and English speaking communities make use of relative frames of reference anchored with the bodies of speech act participants. However, they do not use these frames of reference exclusively and instead make use of a range of frame of reference choices. Other frames of reference studied include the landmark-based frame, which are anchored with an environmental entity, the object-centered intrinsic frame, which are anchored with the ground object, and the direct frame, in which a speech act participant is both the anchor and the ground. The extensive study of how communities and individuals vary their spatial frame of reference use depending on the requirements of the task has not been done. Additionally, speakers can make their descriptions from the conversational perspective of themselves, their addressees, both, or something outside of themselves. This variation has been studied in English but not in Tseltal. In this dissertation, I present two studies that illuminate the variation in frames of reference use and conversational perspective in Tseltal and English. It also examines the repetition of frame use in extended discourse.In the first task, pairs of speakers worked together to rebuild an array of toy dolls and doll furniture that had a specified orientation that had to be maintained. Arrays were either aligned with speech act participants or they were aligned with the environment. It was found that Tseltal speakers distinguish themselves from English speakers in the use of every frame of reference examined. Tseltal speakers also used fewer descriptions from the perspective of the speaker or the addressee than English speakers. Arrays aligned with speech act participants elicited more relative descriptions and arrays aligned with the environment elicited more absolute descriptions. Levels of education attained, literacy, L2 use, gender and age were also found to be potential predictors of frame of reference and conversational perspective use. The second task introduced memory as a component by having some trials that were memorized and some trials that were not. In this task, pairs of speakers worked together to recreate a path out of a maze. This study replicated the findings of the previous study for all but one frame of reference, object-centered intrinsic. Arrays that aligned with the environment elicited more landmark-based frames. It was found that speakers used more landmark-based and direct frames in trials that were not memorized than were memorized. A corpus study using the extended discourse data from the first task examined the repetition of frames and whether the use of a frame could predict subsequent uses of the same frame. It was found that extrinsic frames (absolute, relative, and landmark-based) could predict subsequent use of the same frame type but intrinsic frames (object-centered intrinsic and direct) could not. A subset containing only English data was analyzed to see if the spatial relators \"left\" and \"right\" were also predictive of frame use. These spatial relators were found to positive predict relative frame use and negatively predict object-centered intrinsic use. A model containing both spatial frames of reference and the spatial relators found that intrinsic frame use could predict subsequent use of intrinsic frames while the spatial relators still negatively predicted the use of object-centered intrinsic frames. This dissertation shows that linguistic communities differentiate themselves on how they use a set on spatial frames of reference and not just on the use absolute and relative frames of reference."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["On Space in Conversation: Coordinating Perspectives in Spatial Reference"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Bohnemeyer, Juergen","Linguistics"],"dc:creator":["Donelson, Katharine; 0000-0002-8053-9561"],"dc:date":["2018-10-26T02:56:57Z","2018","2018-08-10 11:52:48"],"dc:description":["Ph.D.","When speakers choose to describe the locations, paths, or orientations of entities in the world, they must make a choice that they are able to calculate and other conversational participants can understand. The study of the use of spatial frame of reference, conceptual coordinate systems that allow a speaker to locate an object (a figure), with respect to a ground, from a perspective (an anchor), has shown us that there is variation in the choices that communities and individuals make. Previous studies have found that Tseltal speaking communities make use of absolute frames of reference anchored with the inclination of the mountain on which they live and English speaking communities make use of relative frames of reference anchored with the bodies of speech act participants. However, they do not use these frames of reference exclusively and instead make use of a range of frame of reference choices. Other frames of reference studied include the landmark-based frame, which are anchored with an environmental entity, the object-centered intrinsic frame, which are anchored with the ground object, and the direct frame, in which a speech act participant is both the anchor and the ground. The extensive study of how communities and individuals vary their spatial frame of reference use depending on the requirements of the task has not been done. Additionally, speakers can make their descriptions from the conversational perspective of themselves, their addressees, both, or something outside of themselves. This variation has been studied in English but not in Tseltal. In this dissertation, I present two studies that illuminate the variation in frames of reference use and conversational perspective in Tseltal and English. It also examines the repetition of frame use in extended discourse.In the first task, pairs of speakers worked together to rebuild an array of toy dolls and doll furniture that had a specified orientation that had to be maintained. Arrays were either aligned with speech act participants or they were aligned with the environment. It was found that Tseltal speakers distinguish themselves from English speakers in the use of every frame of reference examined. Tseltal speakers also used fewer descriptions from the perspective of the speaker or the addressee than English speakers. Arrays aligned with speech act participants elicited more relative descriptions and arrays aligned with the environment elicited more absolute descriptions. Levels of education attained, literacy, L2 use, gender and age were also found to be potential predictors of frame of reference and conversational perspective use. The second task introduced memory as a component by having some trials that were memorized and some trials that were not. In this task, pairs of speakers worked together to recreate a path out of a maze. This study replicated the findings of the previous study for all but one frame of reference, object-centered intrinsic. Arrays that aligned with the environment elicited more landmark-based frames. It was found that speakers used more landmark-based and direct frames in trials that were not memorized than were memorized. A corpus study using the extended discourse data from the first task examined the repetition of frames and whether the use of a frame could predict subsequent uses of the same frame. It was found that extrinsic frames (absolute, relative, and landmark-based) could predict subsequent use of the same frame type but intrinsic frames (object-centered intrinsic and direct) could not. A subset containing only English data was analyzed to see if the spatial relators \"left\" and \"right\" were also predictive of frame use. These spatial relators were found to positive predict relative frame use and negatively predict object-centered intrinsic use. A model containing both spatial frames of reference and the spatial relators found that intrinsic frame use could predict subsequent use of intrinsic frames while the spatial relators still negatively predicted the use of object-centered intrinsic frames. This dissertation shows that linguistic communities differentiate themselves on how they use a set on spatial frames of reference and not just on the use absolute and relative frames of reference."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78622"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["linguistics","Latin American studies","cognitive psychology"],"dc:title":["On Space in Conversation: Coordinating Perspectives in Spatial Reference"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:14Z"}