Spatial Cognition In L2 Learning: A Study Of The Use Of English Spatial Prepositions

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2020-10

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University of Ghana

Abstract

First language users automatically acquire and internalize the conceptual underpinnings that drive the meanings of the spatial prepositions in their languages. When learning a second language, however, learners are confronted with a new set of cultural and conceptual schemas that require different cognition processes than what they have already internalized. This study adopts the cognitive linguistics notion of construal drawn from the theory of cognitive grammar to investigate the bilingual conception of spatial scenes. The objective of the study was to investigate whether or not Akan-English Bilinguals’ use of English spatial prepositions reflects Akan spatial concepts. The study analyzed spatial prepositions used to describe common spatial configurations that are conventionally described with the English spatial prepositions IN, ON, and AT to represent the spatial concepts of containment, support, and co-location respectively. The data for the study was collected through a picture description task administered to Akan-English bilinguals in Ghana. The study found that the English spatial prepositions IN, ON, and AT have translation and usage equivalence with the Akan spatial prepositions MU (in), SO (on), and WƆ (at/ to be) in some instances and also differ in use in other instances. It was also found that Akan-English bilinguals’ use of English spatial prepositions was not always in agreement with English conventions for space construction. Their use of English spatial prepositions was also found to reflect Akan spatial concepts. In sum, the study has shown that while Akan and English share similarities in a wide range of spatial concepts, there are also many differences in how space is constructed between English and Akan. The findings of the study confirm the assertion that though the spatial concepts of containment, support, and co-location are common to most languages what counts as containment, support or co-location varies across languages.

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MPhil. English

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English Spatial Prepositions, Ghana, linguistics, languages, translation

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