SFB 833 Project B7 (07/2009 - )

Language Processing and Time Cognition: Spatial Foundation of Time-Reference in Linguistic Expressions

Principal investigators:

Prof. Dr. Rolf Ulrich, Prof. Dr. Claudia Maienborn

Staff:

Edith Scheifele (since 2017), Linda von Sobbe (since 2017), Simone Alex-Ruf (2009-2017), Verena Eikmeier (2011-2017), Susana Ruiz-Fernández (2009-2011)

Studies in cognitive psychology suggest that temporal expressions are grounded in spatial experiences. Particularly current findings show that humans posses a mental timeline running from left to right. The research project examines the linguistic and cognitive aspects and implications of such a left/right alignment of the mental representation of time for the linguistic time and event reference. The project is interdisciplinary with the departments of cognitive psychology and linguistics working together.

Site of the project