From language to meteorology: kinesis in weather events and weather verbs across Sinitic languages

Abstract Interactions among the environment, humans and language underlie many of most pressing challenges we face today. This study investigates use different verbs to encode various weather events in Sinitic languages, a family spoken over wide range climates with 3000 years continuous textual documentation. We propose synergise concepts kinesis that grew from Aristotle’s original ideas account for correlation between meteorological their linguistic encoding. It is observed two salient key factors events, i.e., mass substances speed processes, are contributing components kinetic energy. Leveraging theory underpins conceptualisation verb classes, this paper successfully accounts selection all languages terms both variations changes. Specifically, bigger faster processes tend select action high transitivity. The driven also predict typological verbal nominal constructions expressions. further corroborated by an experiment on perception native speakers, as well analyses regional selections do not follow general patterns. found such exceptions generally correspond By explicating pivotal role bridging encoding weather, underlines cognition physical sensory inputs sharable knowledge encoded language.