On language, dimensionality, and mapping

Abstract

This short article discusses dimensionality in language: while many languages may be easily conceptualized as bidimensional and covering a discrete portion of the Earth’s surface, additional dimensions are provided by verticality—either physical or, more often, metaphorical (in the form of bi- and multilingualism)—and time (when nomadic peoples carry their languages around). Other languages are unidimensional, involving to all practical extents a single point in space, while still others have no physical dimension at all, and are used by diffuse communities.

The article argues that dimensionality—a key property of the nation-state—is largely responsible for how we conceptualize languages and the tools (such as the language maps) we use to represent them mentally as well as in space.