T ALKING ABOUT THE M OVING I MAGE A Declarative Model for Image Schema Based Embodied Perception Grounding and Language Generation Jakob Suchan 1,2 , Mehul Bhatt 1,2 , and Harshita Jhavar 2,3 1 University of Bremen, Germany 2 The DesignSpace Group www.design-space.org/Next 3 MANIT (Bhopal, India) Abstract. We present a general theory and corresponding declarative model for the embodied grounding and natural language based analytical summarisation of dynamic visuo-spatial imagery. The declarative model —ecompassing spatio- linguistic abstractions, image schemas, and a spatio-temporal feature based lan- guage generator— is modularly implemented within Constraint Logic Program- ming (CLP). The implemented model is such that primitives of the theory, e.g., pertaining to space and motion, image schemata, are available as first-class ob- jects with deep semantics suited for inference and query. We demonstrate the model with select examples broadly motivated by areas such as film, design, ge- ography, smart environments where analytical natural language based externali- sations of the moving image are central from the viewpoint of human interaction, evidence-based qualitative analysis, and sensemaking. Keywords: moving image, visual semantics and embodiment, visuo-spatial cog- nition and computation, cognitive vision, computational models of narrative, declar- ative spatial reasoning 1 I NTRODUCTION Spatial thinking, conceptualisation, and the verbal and visual (e.g., gestural, iconic, di- agrammatic) communication of commonsense as well as expert knowledge about the world —the space that we exist in— is one of the most important aspects of every- day human life [Tversky, 2005, 2004, Bhatt, 2013]. Philosophers, cognitive scientists, linguists, psycholinguists, ontologists, information theorists, computer scientists, math- ematicians have each investigated space through the perspective of the lenses afforded arXiv:1508.03276v1 [cs.AI] 13 Aug 2015