This comparative-linguistics study examines semantic extensions of Front and Back in Thai and Korean, proposing a Front-over-Back asymmetry in both languages despite different lexicalisation strategies.
Key findings
- Both languages show broader or more salient use of Front than Back. The authors link this asymmetry to conceptual granularity and especially pragmatic salience, while identifying distinct Thai and Korean lexicalisation strategies.
Why this matters globally
The study adds cross-linguistic evidence on cognition, space and meaning, and provides a basis for comparisons with other language families to test how widely the asymmetry holds.
Thai researcher contribution
Kultida Khammee of the University of Phayao and Seongha Rhee of Mahidol University contributed Thai-language analysis within a comparison with Korean.
Limitations to consider
The accessible record does not fully report corpus size, sampling, frequency counts or intercoder reliability. With two languages and a theory-led interpretation, the study cannot establish universality or a causal direction for linguistic salience.