Some Perceptual Limitations on Talking About Space
Willem J. M. Levelt · 2020
Most people develop some sort of touring strategy, deciding on the order of mention by spatial connectivity as if they are walking around through the apartment. This “linearization problem” in talking about space has been further analyzed in experimental studies by W. J. M. Levelt and by V. Ehrich and Ch. Koster. The deictic system and the intrinsic system are in full opposition. One consequence of the intrinsic system’s local intransitivity is that it is hard to reason with “left” and “right” within the intrinsic system. The deictic system requires a viewer’s perspective, and one may ask what limiting conditions this perspective has to adhere to. The use of the intrinsic system is independent of the speaker’s position with respect to the scene. The front/back dimension can also be referred to both deictically and intrinsically, and consequently problems arise which are quite similar to those encountered for the left/right dimension.