Relative direction

Cultures without relative directions

Most human cultures use relative directions for reference, but there are exceptions. Some Australian Aboriginal languages like Guugu Yimithirr, Kayardild and Kuuk Thaayorre have no words denoting the egocentric directions; instead, speakers exclusively refer to cardinal directions, even when describing small-scale spaces. For instance, if they wanted someone to move over on the car seat to make room, they might say "move a bit to the east". To tell someone where exactly they left something in their house, they might say, "I left it on the southern edge of the western table." Or they might warn a person to "look out for that big ant just north of your foot". Other peoples "from Polynesia to Mexico and from Namibia to Bali" similarly have predominantly "geographic languages". American Sign Language makes heavy use of geographical direction through absolute orientation.