IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v8y2021i1d10.1057_s41599-020-00682-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From language to meteorology: kinesis in weather events and weather verbs across Sinitic languages

Author

Listed:
  • Chu-Ren Huang

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
    Peking University)

  • Sicong Dong

    (School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Yike Yang

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

  • He Ren

    (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Abstract

Interactions among the environment, humans and language underlie many of the most pressing challenges we face today. This study investigates the use of different verbs to encode various weather events in Sinitic languages, a language family spoken over a wide range of climates and with 3000 years of continuous textual documentation. We propose to synergise the many concepts of kinesis that grew from Aristotle’s original ideas to account for the correlation between meteorological events and their linguistic encoding. It is observed that the two most salient key factors of weather events, i.e., mass of weather substances and speed of weather processes, are the two contributing components of kinetic energy. Leveraging the linguistic theory that kinesis underpins conceptualisation of verb classes, this paper successfully accounts for the selection of verbs for different meteorological events in all Sinitic languages in terms of both language variations and changes. Specifically, weather events with bigger weather substances and faster weather processes tend to select action verbs with high transitivity. The kinesis driven accounts also predict the typological variations between verbal and nominal constructions for weather expressions. The correlation between kinesis and the selection of verbs is further corroborated by an experiment on the perception of native Sinitic language speakers, as well as analyses of regional variations of verb selections that do not follow general typological patterns. It is found that such typological exceptions generally correspond to variations in meteorological patterns. By explicating the pivotal role of kinesis in bridging weather events and the linguistic encoding of weather, this study underlines the role of cognition as the conceptualisation of physical and sensory inputs to sharable knowledge encoded by language.

Suggested Citation

  • Chu-Ren Huang & Sicong Dong & Yike Yang & He Ren, 2021. "From language to meteorology: kinesis in weather events and weather verbs across Sinitic languages," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:8:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-020-00682-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-020-00682-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-020-00682-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-020-00682-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonas Nölle & Riccardo Fusaroli & Gregory J. Mills & Kristian Tylén, 2020. "Correction: Language as shaped by the environment: linguistic construal in a collaborative spatial task," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-1, December.
    2. Eszter Bokányi & Dániel Kondor & László Dobos & Tamás Sebők & József Stéger & István Csabai & Gábor Vattay, 2016. "Race, religion and the city: twitter word frequency patterns reveal dominant demographic dimensions in the United States," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Jonas Nölle & Riccardo Fusaroli & Gregory J. Mills & Kristian Tylén, 2020. "Language as shaped by the environment: linguistic construal in a collaborative spatial task," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. V. Savo & D. Lepofsky & J. P. Benner & K. E. Kohfeld & J. Bailey & K. Lertzman, 2016. "Observations of climate change among subsistence-oriented communities around the world," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(5), pages 462-473, May.
    5. Seán Roberts & James Winters, 2013. "Linguistic Diversity and Traffic Accidents: Lessons from Statistical Studies of Cultural Traits," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-13, August.
    6. Longxing Li & Chu-Ren Huang & Vincent Xian Wang, 2020. "Lexical Competition and Change: A Corpus-Assisted Investigation of Gambling and Gaming in the Past Centuries," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hongdi Ding & Sicong Dong, 2023. "Elevation and fog-cloud similarity in Tibeto-Burman languages," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Renkui Hou & Chu-Ren Huang & Kathleen Ahrens, 2022. "Regional varieties and diachronic changes in Chinese political discourse," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Sicong Dong & Yike Yang & He Ren & Chu-Ren Huang, 2021. "Directionality of Atmospheric Water in Chinese: A Lexical Semantic Study Based on Linguistic Ontology," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qi Su & Pengyuan Liu & Wei Wei & Shucheng Zhu & Chu-Ren Huang, 2021. "Occupational gender segregation and gendered language in a language without gender: trends, variations, implications for social development in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Pisor, Anne & Touma, Danielle & Singh, Deepti & Jones, James Holland, 2023. "To understand climate change adaptation we must characterize climate variability. Here’s how," OSF Preprints r382h, Center for Open Science.
    3. Caviedes, Julián & Ibarra, José Tomás & Calvet-Mir, Laura & Álvarez-Fernández, Santiago & Junqueira, André Braga, 2024. "Indigenous and local knowledge on social-ecological changes is positively associated with livelihood resilience in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    4. Sarita Albagli & Allan Yu Iwama, 2022. "Citizen science and the right to research: building local knowledge of climate change impacts," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Rebecca Jo Stormes Newman & Claudia Capitani & Colin Courtney-Mustaphi & Jessica Paula Rose Thorn & Rebecca Kariuki & Charis Enns & Robert Marchant, 2020. "Integrating Insights from Social-Ecological Interactions into Sustainable Land Use Change Scenarios for Small Islands in the Western Indian Ocean," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Grusson, Youen & Wesström, Ingrid & Joel, Abraham, 2021. "Impact of climate change on Swedish agriculture: Growing season rain deficit and irrigation need," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    7. Scott Claessens & Thanos Kyritsis & Quentin D. Atkinson, 2023. "Cross-national analyses require additional controls to account for the non-independence of nations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Carlo Corradini & Emma Folmer & Anna Rebmann, 2022. "Listening to the buzz: Exploring the link between firm creation and regional innovative atmosphere as reflected by social media," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(2), pages 347-369, March.
    9. Yang, Zhikai & Liu, Pan & Cheng, Lei & Liu, Deli & Ming, Bo & Li, He & Xia, Qian, 2021. "Sizing utility-scale photovoltaic power generation for integration into a hydropower plant considering the effects of climate change: A case study in the Longyangxia of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    10. Vikram S. Negi & Deep C. Tiwari & Laxman Singh & Shinny Thakur & Indra D. Bhatt, 2022. "Review and synthesis of climate change studies in the Himalayan region," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(9), pages 10471-10502, September.
    11. Beblo, Miriam & Görges, Luise & Markowsky, Eva, 2020. "Gender Matters in Language and Economic Behaviour: Can we Measure a Causal Cognition Effect of Speaking?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Gay, Victor & Hicks, Daniel L. & Santacreu-Vasut, Estefania, 2016. "Migration as a Window into the Coevolution between Language and Behavior," MPRA Paper 77566, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Victor Gay & Daniel L. Hicks & Estefania Santacreu-Vasut & Amir Shoham, 2018. "Decomposing culture: an analysis of gender, language, and labor supply in the household," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 879-909, December.
    14. Nelson Chanza & Walter Musakwa, 2022. "Indigenous local observations and experiences can give useful indicators of climate change in data-deficient regions," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 534-546, September.
    15. Timothy Downing & Daniel Olago & Tobias Nyumba, 2023. "Perceptions of Ecosystem Services and Climate Change in the Communities Surrounding Mt. Kenya and Mt. Elgon, Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-20, July.
    16. Fikret Berkes & Huei-Min Tsai & Mucahid Mustafa Bayrak & Yih-Ren Lin, 2021. "Indigenous Resilience to Disasters in Taiwan and Beyond," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, February.
    17. Jessica E. Taylor & Cristina Poleacovschi & Michael A. Perez, 2023. "Climate change adaptation trends among Indigenous peoples: a systematic review of the empirical research focus over the last 2 decades," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(6), pages 1-28, August.
    18. Till Koebe & Alejandra Arias-Salazar & Timo Schmid, 2023. "Releasing survey microdata with exact cluster locations and additional privacy safeguards," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    19. Muchamad Sholakhuddin Al Fajri & Victoria Okwar, 2020. "Exploring a Diachronic Change in the Use of English Relative Clauses: A Corpus-Based Study and Its Implication for Pedagogy," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, November.
    20. Nirmalya Thakur & Kesha A. Patel & Audrey Poon & Rishika Shah & Nazif Azizi & Changhee Han, 2023. "A Comprehensive Analysis and Investigation of the Public Discourse on Twitter about Exoskeletons from 2017 to 2023," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-46, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:8:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-020-00682-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.