Function versus regions in spatial language: a fundamental distinction

International audienceThe meaning of spatial expressions has attracted a growing interest over the last three decades. Even since first studies in the late sixties, the semantic modelling of locative adpositions has favoured geometrical concepts such as regions. Yet, a different approach to spatial adpositions appeared at the beginning of the eighties, which emphasizes the importance of functional concepts. This chapter sketches the historical background to the development of these two approaches. Relying on formal and typological arguments, it is shown that an approach grounded in both function and geometry/regions provides a better account of spatial adpositions in all their richness