Chapter 2. The cultural, linguistic and cognitive relativity of time concepts

Abstract

There has been a considerable boost in studies on the cognitive foundations of language, including the fields of space, time, and causality. While Africa has increasingly been included in these studies, the attention to cognitive constraints has sometimes overlooked possible diversity as captured by anthropological linguistics. The study of cultural relativity with regard to time concepts which flourished initially in anthropology and linguistics has been overshadowed by research in economics and neighboring disciplines. Linguistic distinctions such as that between weak FTR (Future Time Reference) and strong FTR languages become associated with cultural differences such as saving for the future. This contribution looks critically at these typologies and argues that research would benefit from closer cooperation between comparative and intrinsic approaches to the study of African languages.