scholarly journals Where do all the motion verbs come from?

Diachronica ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemarie Verkerk
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Comparative Methods ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Phylogenetic Comparative Methods ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Verb Lexicon ◽  
Huge Progress ◽  
Manner Verbs

The last four decades have seen huge progress in the description and analysis of cross-linguistic diversity in the encoding of motion (Talmy 1985, 1991, Slobin 1996, 2004). Comparisons between satellite-framed and verb-framed languages suggest that satellite-framed languages typically have a larger manner of motion verb lexicon (swim, dash), while verb-framed languages typically have a larger path of motion verb lexicon (enter, cross) (Slobin 2004, Verkerk 2013, 2014b). This paper investigates how differences between the motion verb lexicons of satellite-framed and verb-framed languages emerge. Phylogenetic comparative methods adopted from biology and an etymological study are used to investigate manner verb lexicons and path verb lexicons in an Indo-European dataset. I show that manner verbs and path verbs typically have different types of etymological origins and that manner verbs emerge faster in satellite-framed subgroups, while path verbs emerge faster in verb-framed subgroups.

scholarly journals Scramble, Scurry and Dash: The Correlation between Motion Event Encoding and Manner Verb Lexicon Size in Indo-European

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemarie Verkerk
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Methods ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Phylogenetic Comparative Methods ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Shared History ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Verb Lexicon ◽  
Over Time

In recent decades, much has been discovered about the different ways in which people can talk about motion (Talmy, 1985, 1991; Slobin, 1996, 1997, 2004). Slobin (1997) has suggested that satellite-framed languages typically have a larger and more diverse lexicon of manner of motion verbs (such as run, fly, and scramble) when compared to verb-framed languages. Slobin (2004) has claimed that larger manner of motion verb lexicons originate over time because codability factors increase the accessibility of manner in satellite-framed languages. In this paper I investigate the dependency between the use of the satellite-framed encoding construction and the size of the manner verb lexicon. The data used come from 20 Indo-European languages. The methodology applied is a range of phylogenetic comparative methods adopted from biology, which allow for an investigation of this dependency while taking into account the shared history between these 20 languages. The results provide evidence that Slobin’s hypothesis was correct, and indeed there seems to be a relationship between the use of the satellite-framed construction and the size of the manner verb lexicon.

Theoretical framework

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Huber
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Constructionist Approach ◽  
Manner Verbs

Chapter 2 provides an introduction to the motion encoding typology as proposed by Talmy, Slobin, and others (manner- and path-conflating languages, different types of framing and their concomitant characteristics). It argues that this typology is highly compatible with a construction grammar framework, points out the differences, and shows that particularly from the diachronic perspective taken in this study, the constructionist approach has advantages over the originally lexicalist approach of the motion typology. The chapter also provides a discussion of the different categories of motion verbs used in this study (manner verbs, path verbs, neutral motion verbs, and verbs that do not evoke a motion event on their own, but can receive a contextual motion reading).

scholarly journals The influence of language-specific and universal factors on acquisition of motion verbs

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 927
Author(s):  
Rebecca Smyder ◽  
Kaitlyn Harrigan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Universal Distribution ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Verb Acquisition ◽  
Manner Verbs

This study explores children’s encoding of novel verbs referring to motion events, and finds influence of both language-specific and universal constraints on meaning. Motion verbs fall into two categories—manner verbs encode how a movement happens (run, swim), and path verbs encode the starting and ending point of a motion (enter, fall). Some languages express path more frequently in the verb (Spanish, Hebrew), and others manner more frequently (English, German). Our study expands on this previous work demonstrating sensitivity to these language-specific distributions, as well as expanding to test environmental factors representing a predictable universal distribution. We find that children are sensitive to both the language-specific factors as well as the universal factors in motion verb acquisition.

Latin and medieval French in the motion verb typology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Huber
Keyword(s):  
Old French ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Manner Verbs

Since Latin and medieval French are the contact languages from which the path verbs analysed in chapter 9 are borrowed, this chapter summarizes earlier research on Latin and medieval French in the motion verb typology and offers a case study on motion expression in the prose parts of the Old French Aucassin et Nicolette. It is shown that while medieval French can be called satellite-framing with respect to the structures used to talk about motion, which typically feature satellites (though less often in the form of adverbs than in medieval English), the use of path verbs is considerably higher than of manner verbs, and manner verbs are less frequently combined with satellites than are other motion verbs. This is related to narrative styles typical of medieval French romances and epics.

scholarly journals Semantic Categories in the Domain of Motion Verbs by Adult Speakers of Danish, German, and Turkish

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moiken Jessen
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Space ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
The World ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Vector Orientation ◽  
Verb Lexicon

Languages differ in the ways they divide the world. This study applies cluster analysis to understand how and why languages differ in the way they express motion events. It further lays out what the parameters of the structure of the semantic space of motion are, based on data collected from participants who were adult speakers of Danish, German, and Turkish. The participants described 37 video clips depicting a large variety of motion events. The results of the study show that the segmentation of the semantic space displays a great deal of variation across all three groups. Turkish differs from German and Danish with respect to the features used to segment the semantic space – namely by using vector orientation. German and Danish differ greatly with respect to (a) how fine-grained the distinctions made are, and (b) how motion verbs with a common Germanic root are distributed across the semantic space. Consequently, this study illustrates that the parameters applied for categorization by speakers are, to some degree, related to typological membership, in relation to Talmy's typological framework for the expression of motion events. Finally, the study shows that the features applied for categorization differ across languages and that typological membership is not necessarily a predictor of elaboration of the motion verb lexicon.

General conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Huber
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Verb Lexicon ◽  
Manner Verbs

Chapter 10 offers a general conclusion of the findings of the book: Old and Middle English are strongly satellite-framing languages, whose intransitive motion construction can also accommodate verbs which inherently do not evoke a meaning of motion. The size of the manner verb lexicon in medieval English, as well as the use of manner verbs in the texts analysed, point to a similar degree of manner salience as in Present-Day English. The path verbs from French and Latin are shown to be borrowed initially not for expressing general literal motion events, but mostly in abstract or manner-enriched uses more peripheral to their meaning in the donor languages. The study also points out effects of the intertypological contact situation with Middle English on motion verb use in Anglo-Norman. Potential further effects yet to be investigated are suggested in this chapter.

Motion verb constructions, frames, and profiling

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Michael Herweg
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Frame Structure ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The Core ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Serial Verb ◽  
Motion Verb

AbstractThis paper offers a frame-semantic account of some of the manifold phenomena that can be observed in motion expressions in typologically diverse languages. The core of the proposed approach is a basic locomotion frame complemented with a mechanism of profiling that operates on this frame. The locomotion frame provides a rich structure which features the pivotal elements beneficial for the semantic representation of different types of motion descriptions. The profiling mechanism allows one to select, deselect and augment elements of this frame structure, as well as to specify significant relations between distinct parts of the frame. With these means, the profiling mechanism facilitates fine-grained differentiations among motion verbs that considerably exceed the classic dichotomy of path and manner-of-motion verbs. The proposed theory is applied to different kinds of path and manner-of-motion verbs, including those typically found in path-dominant and manner-dominant languages, as well as in languages which exhibit a pronounced diversity of motion verbs lined up in serial verb constructions. The suggested frame-semantic analyses thus reveal intricate differentiations in a multifaceted linguistic domain.

scholarly journals Explaining large-scale patterns of vertebrate diversity

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 20150506 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Wiens
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Comparative Methods ◽  
Phylogenetic Comparative Methods ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Diversification Rates ◽  
Richness Patterns ◽  
Current Species

The major clades of vertebrates differ dramatically in their current species richness, from 2 to more than 32 000 species each, but the causes of this variation remain poorly understood. For example, a previous study noted that vertebrate clades differ in their diversification rates, but did not explain why they differ. Using a time-calibrated phylogeny and phylogenetic comparative methods, I show that most variation in diversification rates among 12 major vertebrate clades has a simple ecological explanation: predominantly terrestrial clades (i.e. birds, mammals, and lizards and snakes) have higher net diversification rates than predominantly aquatic clades (i.e. amphibians, crocodilians, turtles and all fish clades). These differences in diversification rates are then strongly related to patterns of species richness. Habitat may be more important than other potential explanations for richness patterns in vertebrates (such as climate and metabolic rates) and may also help explain patterns of species richness in many other groups of organisms.

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