In everyday life, every person is

able to navigate around in a

spatial world, to talk about

space and even to imagine

unknown spaces; spatial

thinking is one of our most

deeply embedded cognitive

capacities.

[G. Kendall, 2011]

Dr Martin Thiering n-spaces

As a semiotic system, language plays a crucial role in the instantiation of spatial relations in

different environments. This assumption is in line with the linguistic relativity or Neo-Whorfian

approach, that is, language has an influence upon (spatial) cognition. Human beings mark

different aspects of spatial scenes, they mentally rotate relationships and include a variety of

knowledge systems.

In 2020 the members of this SIG learned that multimedial perspectives in different semiotic

environments are based on different cultural-specific sign systems, that is, spatial practices. A

common denominator is the idea, that different semiotic practices do affect media and modalities,

and vice versa - based on the respective affordances.

Please see for further information and reading:

Spatial phenomenology and cognitive linguistics: the case of bodily and perceptual spaces (>)

Spatial Semiotics and Spatial Mental Models: Figure-Ground Asymmetries in Language (>)