Out of our minds and onto the paper: On the morphological complexity of configurational spatial relations
Julia Nintemann, Maike Vorholt, Deborah Arbes, Kevin Behrens · 2025
This study investigates the morphological complexity of spatial relations across a sample of 30 areally and genealogically diverse languages from a functional- typological perspective in both qualitative and quantitative terms. The focus lies on configurational constructions encoding different Directionalities (Place, Goal, Source) and Configurations (inside, on, behind, in front of, under). A comparison is drawn to constructions encoding general location wherever possible. Our findings indicate a hierarchy of complexity from Place via Goal to Source, supporting prior research.