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A Study of Lexicalization Patterns for Motion Verbs in English and French Based on Boundary Constraints

Received: 23 May 2022     Accepted: 9 June 2022     Published: 16 June 2022
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Abstract

Talmy presents his two-way typology of verb-framed and satellite-framed languages based on his motion event. The typology is determined by how the Path of movement is expressed. In verb-framed languages, Path is expressed by the main verb, whereas in satellite-framed languages, Path is expressed by an element associated with the verb. French as a typical V-language expresses both the fact of Motion and the Path in the verb itself, whereas English as a typical S-language expresses both Motion and the Manner in the verb, and path is expressed by an element associated with the verb. However, Talmy’ two-way typology is too simplistic. English and French do not behave in the same way as Talmy’s description. This study proposes boundary constraints on lexicalization between English and French motion verbs. We collected 150 English motion verbs and 100 French motion verbs to examine their lexicalization patterns. The results show that English prefers to incorporate both Path and Manner in verbs when the path is coincident with the ground, while it uses manner verbs occurring with path expressions when the path is not coincident with the ground. About half of French motion verbs are manner verbs and they tends to occur with path phrases when no boundary crossing is indicated.

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 10, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17
Page(s) 216-219
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Motion Event, Lexicalization Pattern, Bounding Constraint

References
[1] Talmy, L. (1975). Semantics and syntax of motion. In John, K (Ed.), Syntax and Semantics, vol. IV. New York: Academic Press, 181–238.
[2] Talmy, L. (1985). Lexicalization patterns: semantic structure in lexical forms. In Timothy, S., Language typology and syntactic description, vol. III: Grammatical categories and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 57–149.
[3] Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a cognitive semantics Vol. I, Concept structuring system. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.
[4] Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a cognitive semantics, Vol. II, Typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: MIT Pres.
[5] Slobin, D. I. & Hoiting, N. (1994). Reference to movement in spoken and signed languages: Typological considerations. Berkeley Linguistics Society (BLS) 20, 487–505.
[6] Slobin, D. I. (1996b). Two ways to travel: Verbs of motion in English and Spanish, In Shibatani, M., & Thompson, S. A. (eds). Grammatical constructions: Their form and meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 195-217.
[7] Slobin, I. (2003). Language and thought online: the cognallative consequences of linguistic relativity. In Dedre, G., & Susan, G, M (eds.), Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 157–192.
[8] Slobin, I. (2004). The many ways to search for a frog: Linguistic typology & the expression of motion events. In Sven, S., & Ludo, V (eds), Relating Events in Narrative. Typological & Contextual Perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 219–257.
[9] Zlatev, J. & Yangklang, P. (2004). A third way to travel: The place of Thai in motion event typology. In Stromqvist & Verhoeven (eds.), 159–190.
[10] Croft, W., Jóhanna, B., Willem B. H., Violeta, S., & Chiaki T. (2010). Revising Talmy’s typological classification of complex event constructions. In Hans C. B (ed.), Constructive Studies in Construction Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 201–236.
[11] John, B., Beth, L., Shiao, W, T. (2010). The typology of motion expressions revisited. Journal of Linguistics 46, 331–377. doi: 10.1017/S0022226709990272.
[12] Ameka, F. K. & Essegbey, J. (2013). Serialising languages: Satellite-framed, verbframed or neither. Vol. 2 No. 1: Ghana Journal of Linguistics 2 (1): 19-38.
[13] Schröder, H. (2016). Motion in Toposa: Is Toposa verb frame or satellite frame language. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 12 (2): 153–175.
[14] Li, F. T. (2018). Extending the Talmyan typology: A case study of the macro-event as event integration and grammaticalization in Mandarin, 29 (3): 585-621. https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2016-0050.
[15] Slobin, D. I. (2006). What makes manner of motion salient? Explorations in linguistic typology, discourse, and cognition,” In Hickmann, M., & Robert, S. (Eds). Space in languages: linguistic systems and cognitive categories. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 59-81.
[16] Levin, B. (1993). English verb classes and alternations: A preliminary investigation. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
[17] Xue, J. C. (2001). Dictionnaire de La Langue Français Larousse. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research.
[18] Burnard, L., & Aston, G. (1998). The BNC handbook: exploring the British National Corpus. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
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  • APA Style

    Haiting Zhu. (2022). A Study of Lexicalization Patterns for Motion Verbs in English and French Based on Boundary Constraints. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 10(3), 216-219. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17

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    ACS Style

    Haiting Zhu. A Study of Lexicalization Patterns for Motion Verbs in English and French Based on Boundary Constraints. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2022, 10(3), 216-219. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17

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    AMA Style

    Haiting Zhu. A Study of Lexicalization Patterns for Motion Verbs in English and French Based on Boundary Constraints. Int J Lang Linguist. 2022;10(3):216-219. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17,
      author = {Haiting Zhu},
      title = {A Study of Lexicalization Patterns for Motion Verbs in English and French Based on Boundary Constraints},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {10},
      number = {3},
      pages = {216-219},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20221003.17},
      abstract = {Talmy presents his two-way typology of verb-framed and satellite-framed languages based on his motion event. The typology is determined by how the Path of movement is expressed. In verb-framed languages, Path is expressed by the main verb, whereas in satellite-framed languages, Path is expressed by an element associated with the verb. French as a typical V-language expresses both the fact of Motion and the Path in the verb itself, whereas English as a typical S-language expresses both Motion and the Manner in the verb, and path is expressed by an element associated with the verb. However, Talmy’ two-way typology is too simplistic. English and French do not behave in the same way as Talmy’s description. This study proposes boundary constraints on lexicalization between English and French motion verbs. We collected 150 English motion verbs and 100 French motion verbs to examine their lexicalization patterns. The results show that English prefers to incorporate both Path and Manner in verbs when the path is coincident with the ground, while it uses manner verbs occurring with path expressions when the path is not coincident with the ground. About half of French motion verbs are manner verbs and they tends to occur with path phrases when no boundary crossing is indicated.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - A Study of Lexicalization Patterns for Motion Verbs in English and French Based on Boundary Constraints
    AU  - Haiting Zhu
    Y1  - 2022/06/16
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17
    T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-0221
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20221003.17
    AB  - Talmy presents his two-way typology of verb-framed and satellite-framed languages based on his motion event. The typology is determined by how the Path of movement is expressed. In verb-framed languages, Path is expressed by the main verb, whereas in satellite-framed languages, Path is expressed by an element associated with the verb. French as a typical V-language expresses both the fact of Motion and the Path in the verb itself, whereas English as a typical S-language expresses both Motion and the Manner in the verb, and path is expressed by an element associated with the verb. However, Talmy’ two-way typology is too simplistic. English and French do not behave in the same way as Talmy’s description. This study proposes boundary constraints on lexicalization between English and French motion verbs. We collected 150 English motion verbs and 100 French motion verbs to examine their lexicalization patterns. The results show that English prefers to incorporate both Path and Manner in verbs when the path is coincident with the ground, while it uses manner verbs occurring with path expressions when the path is not coincident with the ground. About half of French motion verbs are manner verbs and they tends to occur with path phrases when no boundary crossing is indicated.
    VL  - 10
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Author Information
  • School of Foreign Studies, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China

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