Kinesthesis (linguistics)
From KneeQuickie
Kinæsthesis in linguistics refers to the emphasis on touch, motion, and relationships in certain languages rather than on objects and vision as in most languages. A kinæsthetic language focuses on verbs rather than nouns, describing things in terms of action and feeling. For example, in this system, a shovel may be "it-carries-dirt" while water is "it-flows-through-my-fingers". The notion of kinæsthesis is a recent one among linguists, representing a shift away from an emphasis on syntax among linguists and revived interest in semantics. As Jburke explains in the Polysynthesis Thread:
The idea that there's a worldview implicit in every language has, for 40 years, been a no-go thesis; it's only recently become a legitmate area of research. In North America, the Algonquian linguists like Leman, Alford and Frantz were pioneers of this new approach, which owes something to Sapir and to Whorf. I suspect there are any number of divergent worldviews hidden in the languages of the world; linguists have just been so concerned with their trees and formal structures and universal grammar that they never looked for them. "Semantics" is a dirty word among most linguists.
Examples
Kinæsthesis is seen most prominently in the Algonquian and Iroquoian languages. The theory of kinæsthetics in language is a relatively recent one and that, combined with its relative rarity and auro of primitiveness has thus far made it rare in conlangs, though J.S. Burke is attempting in in his conlang, Noyahtowa.
