Conveying the words for relative positioning in a new language is difficult without visual aids. And finding visual aids you have permission to use can be particularly difficult for conlangers. This is the first of four such pages. I’m releasing them into the public domain, so feel free to do whatever you want with them.
In PDF format with text and without text. In SVG format without text. In PNG format without text.
If you do use it, I’d love to hear about it.
[Update: second page of these is here.]
Preview:
Thanks! This is useful. And the figures are way cute.
[...] Relative positioning imagery for linguists [...]
“Where at” is redundant, but I understand the need to show “at” on the page, as part of a set with “to” and “from”. Perhaps leave out “where”.
“From under” and “from behind” are often “out from under” and “out from behind”. I haven’t investigated enough to tell when to include “out”. “Next to” is also “beside”.
The scheme of the sets of three is good, and the pictures are perfect.
I agree the “at” in “where at” is a little redundant but i left it for consistency. I’ll add in “beside” with “next to”. That definitely should have been there.
With “out from under / behind” I think “out” should be avoided because it implies one was “in” which could be confusing to non-native speakers, and native speakers already know they can use that form and thus don’t need it. HOWEVER, the English wording is really only transient and for the benefit of the person creating the teaching aid NOT the users of the final product. It’s just to make sure that the instructor knows what was intended when adding their translations to the versions without text.
I can’t claim credit for the sets of three idea, but I can for the drawings and I’m glad you liked them. :)
Hey, that’s great! I’m a conlanger myself and I’ve actually spent the last few days doing pictures similar to yours. Interesting coincidence! :)
Prepositions are slippery little beasties.
Name (required)
Mail (will not be published) (required)
Website
