The representation of spatial configurations in English and German and the grammatical structure of locative and anaphoric expressions 1 MARY CARROLL and CHRISTIANE VON STUTTERHEIM Abstract This paper gives a cross-linguistic comparison of the way information is organized for expression in descriptions in English and German, given the same communicative tasks. The study focuses on factors governing the use of spatial concepts and the ways in which they are mapped into linguistic form. This involves a comparison of the concepts used in linearizing informa- tion and establishing cohesion in descriptions and shows how systematic preferences for one set of spatial concepts over another when describing the relative location of objects can be attributed to general principles of organ- ization at text level. The grammatical and lexical structure of locative expressions in English and German also reflects requirements defined by language-specific patterns of information organization. These factors lead to different preferences in conceptualizing subject matter for expression, given a specific communicative task. 1. Introduction The analysis of spatial concepts and the way in which language structures space in context has created a high level of interest not only in the field of semantics but also in the fields of cognitive linguistics and cognitive science. Research in cognitive linguistics has broadened the study of spatial expressions in that analyses focus not only on the meaning of single lexical items, but also on the way in which spatial concepts are mapped into linguistic form and used to structure space (Talmy 1983, 1987). One of the central areas of investigation in cognitive linguistics is concerned with what Talmy has termed the semantics of grammar, which addresses the relation between grammar and cognition and involves, at one level of analysis, a systematic description of the types of concepts Linguistics 31 (1993), 1011-1041 0024-3949/93/0031-1011 $2.00 © Walter de Gruyter Brought to you by | Brown University Rockefeller Library (Brown Univer Authenticated | 172.16.1.226 Download Date | 7/18/12 6:48 PM