This book elucidates the existence of a foundational cultural model in a Polynesian culture, the Kingdom of Tonga. In so doing, a number of central issues in anthropology, cognitive anthropology, linguistics, cognitive psychology, cognitive science, and sociology are discussed in depth. For example, regarding the nature of knowledge representation, a distinction is proposed between mental model and cultural model and how they both differ from schemas (or schemata). Regarding the relationship between language and thought, a dynamic engagement is suggested and a distinctive role for metaphors is envisaged. A clear relationship between cultural models and behavior is asserted as well as a transparent link between various cognitive modules. The role of the spatial relationships module (i.e., space) in the cognitive architecture is presented as fundamental in understanding the internal organization of other modules (or knowledge domains) with which it interacts. Finally, social network analysis is used while investigating the cognitive nature and organization of social relationships.

A mental model consists of bits of knowledge organized in such a way as to facilitate storage and/or retrieval/use of that same knowledge (Craik, 1943; Gentner and Stevens, 1983; Johnson-Laird, 1983). I propose to call “radiality” a specific type of mental model, a Tongan foundational cultural model. The choice is motivated by proposals made by Lakoff (1987), Holland and Quinn (1987) and Shore (1996).