Spatial frames of reference in Mesoamerican languages

This article presents the conceptual and methodological framework for the special issue Frames of reference in Mesoamerican languages, which reports on the use of frames of reference (FoRs) in eight Mesoamerican languages and two non-Mesoamerican control languages. The papers included here are a result of the ongoing collaborative project Spatial language and cognition in Mesoamerica. This article provides a background to the study of FoRs, the research methodology used cross-linguistically, the classification that serves as the basis for the coding of cross-linguistic data, and a preview of the articles in the special issue.

► Analysis of frames of reference in 8 Mesoamerican languages and 2 non-Mesoamerican languages. ► The conceptual and methodological framework used in this special issue are presented. ► Data on 2 MA languages and 2 non-MA languages are discussed. ► Hypothesis: meronymy may correlate with a bias against the relative FoR. ► The hypothesis is supported by data from all languages in the sample.