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We examine the extent to which practices of language use may be diffused through language contact and areally shared, using data on spatial reference frame use by speakers of eight indigenous languages from in and around the Mesoamerican linguistic area and three varieties of Spanish. Regression models show that the frequency of L2-Spanish use by speakers of the indigenous languages predicts the use of relative reference frames in the L1 even when literacy and education levels are accounted for. A significant difference in frame use between the Mesoamerican and non-Mesoamerican indigenous languages further supports the contact diffusion analysis.

Abstract

This paper surveys the Khitan names of the so-called “Five Capitals” of the Liao empire (907–1125). In this connection, the lexemes denoting the compass points (north, south, east, west) and related expressions of orientation (right, left, centre) are examined in the light of the information supplied by the relevant historical context and the extant corpus of Khitan Small Script texts. In addition, the dynastic name of the Liao empire is also discussed. The discussion reveals several previously unobserved details of linguistic, philological, historical, and cultural interest, and allows the Khitan system of orientation to be placed in the general context of comparative Mongolic studies.