Re: left and right

Lars Finsen wrote:
>
> Den 4. apr. 2008 kl. 08.48 skreiv JR:
>
>> There's a chapter by Edward Louis Keenan and Elinor Ochs in
>> _Languages and Their Speakers_ called "Becoming a Competent Speaker
>> Of Malagasy," where they describe their experiences in a rural
>> community in Madagascar. One thing they note is the use of the
>> cardinal directions ("north", "south", etc.) instead of "left" and
>> "right". I don't know if there are no words for the latter at all,
>> but they write that the concepts are not available to the speakers,
>> "at least without reflection." They tie this in with the strong
>> cultural tendency to keep attention away from individuals. Saying
>> that something is "to the north" instead of "to my right" achieves
>> this.
>
> Interesting. So apparently they think of people as normally facing
> towards the west.
Not necessarily. "To the north" is not a synonym for "to the left."
They would just specify whichever direction is to the left of where
they are currently facing. But note that Malagasy has words for
left and right ("havia" and "ankavanana" respectively).

--Ph. D.