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In:Thinking and Speaking About Time: A cognitive linguistic approach
Edited by Rita Brdar-Szabó and Mario Brdar
[Human Cognitive Processing 81] 2026
► pp. 114–147

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Chapter 4
Event-based time in Amazonian cultures and languages

 | University of Oxford | University of Bergen
Published online: 27 January 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.81.04das
Abstract
Many cultures do not organise life by metric time. Event-based time intervals in three Amazonian communities related to life stages, times of day and night, and seasons are documented and analysed. Metonymic indices for time intervals are common, while metaphoric space-time mapping is largely absent. Event terms can combine with motion verbs, though not to indicate movement on a timeline. Concepts of ‘past’ and ‘future’ are understood through embodied perception — such as the past in my heart or eyes and the future in my mind or vision. Recent innovations include hybrid calendars that combine the twelve-month cycle with indigenous time concepts. These findings challenge universal models of spatialised time, suggesting instead the primacy of events in temporal cognition and language.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Languages and communities
  • 3.Materials and methods
    • 3.1Research questions and design of linguistic comparison
    • 3.2The field work team
    • 3.3Community engagement and informed consent
    • 3.4Instruments and procedures
    • 3.5Data recording, checking, transcription and analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Calendar and clock time
    • 4.2Lexicalisation and indexicalisation of time intervals
      and temporal landmarks
      • 4.2.1Life stages
      • 4.2.2Event-based time and temporal indexicalization
      • 4.2.3Times of day and night
      • 4.2.4Seasons
      • 4.2.5Sun, moon and stars
      • 4.2.6Awetý and Kamaiurá stars and constellations
      • 4.2.7Hybrid calendars: Event-based intervals and calendric time
  • 5.Embodied time reckoning: Numbers, body parts and artifacts
    • 5.1Numbers in Huni Kuĩ, Awetý and Kamaiurá
    • 5.2Huni Kuĩ numbers
    • 5.3Awetý numbers
    • 5.4Kamaiurá numbers
    • 5.5Hands, knots and wood marking in time reckoning
    • 5.6Hands, fingers and knots: Kamaiurá and Awetý
    • 5.7Huni Kuĩ wood marking
  • 6.Space, time, metonymy and metaphor
    • 6.1Moving Time
    • 6.2Moving Ego
  • 7.Discussion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (55)
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