All languages I know of have four basic directions: left, right, backwards and forwards. Are there any that don’t?

Maybe you could have just three: forwards, backwards-left and backwards-rigth? Or more then four, maybe with distinct names for some or all of the four in-between the common ones

  • riot@fedia.io
    12·
    23 hours ago

    Perhaps it’s Manam? Their island has a volcano, but they use a land-sea axis for directions:

    Manam, like most Oceanic languages, primarily uses an absolute reference directional system, even on a local scale, (as opposed to many European languages which primarily use relative reference systems). This system is oriented on a land-sea axis. However, Manam’s system is unique because it has taken on a circular nature, becoming intrinsically linked to the geography of the island which is almost perfectly circular. Below are the directional terms associated in Manam:

    llau ‘toward the sea’

    Auta ‘toward the land’

    Ata ‘to one’s right when one is facing the sea’

    Awa ‘to one’s left when one is facing the sea’

    The Wikipedia article doesn’t specifically phrase it as “towards/away from the volcano” , but Reddit posts linking to the Wikipedia article phrase it like that.