| This study was conducted within a paradigm of cross-linguistic research that has focused on variation in spatiotemporal point of view across a range of settings in West Africa, East Asia, and North America. It was conducted with 207 graduate students at three institutions in Kathmandu, Nepal.;Four tasks were administered: (1) a task that elicited the use of either a deictic or a non-deictic perspective; (2) a task that elicited the use of either mirror or in-tandem imagery; (3) a task that elicited the use of 'front/back' to represent the relations between a higher point and a lower point on a square sheet; (4) a task that elicited the use of bodily orientational terms to represent temporal 'before/after'. The study was bilingual in that students responded to the task in either Nepali or English. In addition to this language variable, a variable of academic major was used: Nepali major or English major.;The study documented that the students tended to use a non-deictic perspective and mirror imagery on the first two tasks. The variable of language medium was significant on both tasks (i.e., students responding in Nepali made significantly greater use of a non-deictic perspective and in-tandem imagery). The variable of academic major did not reach a level of significance, though the results were in the predicted direction (i.e., Nepali majors made greater use of a non-deictic perspective and in-tandem imagery). There was also a significant correlation between the use of a non-deictic perspective and in-tandem imagery, confirming earlier studies that indicate these responses are cognitively related.;As for the third task, the students tended to view the higher point as anterior to the lower point. As for the fourth task, the students tended to select 'front/back' as the orientational pair to represent 'before/after'. Once again, the variable of language medium, but not language major, was significant on both tasks.;On all four tasks explanations for responses were coded and correlated with the responses. On the last task, for example, an explanation based on morphological similarity between agaadi 'front'/ aghi 'before' and pachhaadi 'back'/ pachhi 'after' correlated significantly with the choice of 'front/back'. |
