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.

Motion Verbs in Japanese

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yo Matsumoto
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Manner Verbs

Japanese is a language rich in verbs representing Path of motion, but it also has verbs representing Manner and Deixis. Examining how they are used can deepen our understanding of some of the interesting properties of the Japanese language. In typological literature on motion events descriptions, Japanese has been claimed to be the type of language in which Path is expressed in the main verb position rather than elsewhere in the sentence, with the use of a path verb. However, this view must be qualified in two ways. First, the language exhibits intralinguistic variation, using postpositions and other nonverbal elements to represent Path notions such as FROM, TO, and ALONG. Second, Path is expressed in the main verb position only when Deixis is absent from the sentence. One feature of manner verbs in Japanese is that they are not used very often, especially concerning walking events. This phenomenon is accounted for by the “cost” of expressing Manner in Japanese. Another property of manner verbs in Japanese is they are incompatible with a goal phrase, which has been previously accounted for in different ways. A close semantic examination of manner verbs suggests that this restriction can be attributed to the nature of goal marking, rather than the semantics of manner verbs. An examination of corpus and experimental data also reveals how Japanese speakers use deictic verbs. Deictic motion verbs are used very frequently, though this tendency is not observed in descriptions of the motion of inanimate entities. Finally, deictic verbs in Japanese are sensitive to the notion of the speaker’s interactional space or territory, not just restricted by the spatial location of the speaker.

scholarly journals The roles of language mode and dominance in French–German bilinguals’ motion event descriptions

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ladina Stocker ◽  
Raphael Berthele
Keyword(s):  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Null Results ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Motion Event Descriptions ◽  
Manner Verbs

AbstractJuggling with structurally and semantically different language systems leads to constructions that differ from the typical patterns in a language. Typical patterns in the domain of motion are characterized by more verbs encoding path in French; and more verbs encoding the manner of motion in German. An increase of manner verbs in French, for instance, can be ascribed to an influence from German. The extent of typical or reversed patterns depends on interrelated factors such as speaker-related idiosyncrasies, language dominance configurations, and – arguably – the degree of language activation. Drawing on data from 154 French–German bilinguals who described motion events in different language modes, this paper combines interrelated questions on the role of language dominance, language mode manipulation and how these factors interact. Quantitative analyses on the use of motion verbs do not show the expected effects. The null results are discussed by comparing preceding studies showing contradictory findings.

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 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.

Motion-Verb Generalizations in English and Spanish: Influences of Language and Syntax

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 363-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Letitia R. Naigles ◽  
Paula Terrazas
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Relativity ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Motion Verb

English and Spanish speakers differ in the ways they talk about motion events, but how have these different modes of expression become instantiated as differing generalizations—as syntactic rules, lexical patterns, or both? In two studies, we asked English- and Spanish-speaking adults to interpret novel motion verbs presented in three types of sentence frames. Overall, English speakers expected novel verbs to encode the manner of motion, whereas Spanish speakers expected the verbs to encode the path of motion. The sentence frames also significantly affected how the speakers interpreted the novel verbs. We conclude that speakers of different languages represent their different generalizations about the composition of motion verbs both lexically and syntactically, and discuss how these generalizations might be important for issues of language acquisition and linguistic relativity.

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.

Motion Verb Acquisition: Development of Definitions

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 979-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Gallivan
Keyword(s):  
Specific Information ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Verb Acquisition ◽  
Word Definitions

This experiment explored as a function of development the changes in the content of subjects' concepts of motion verbs. 60 subjects (3-yr.-olds, 4-yr.-olds, 5-yr.-olds and adults) took part in interviews in which questions designed to assess their understanding of the meanings of 10 verbs were posed. Analyses of the response-types produced, the level of generality of concept instances discussed, and the appropriateness of the word definitions supplied all indicated that children's concepts are initially quite particular and limited mainly to knowledge of the situations and entities to which the verbs can apply. Development of verb meanings appears to consist of generalization of the concepts underlying use of the words, replacing particular specific information about the referents to which the words may apply.

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.

The semantics of the English and the Spanish motion verb lexicons

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Cifuentes-Férez
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Account ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Vast Amount ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Motion Event Descriptions

Talmy’s (e.g., 1985, 2000) seminal work has engendered a great deal of research and debate in the literature on motion event descriptions over the last decades. Despite the vast amount of research on the linguistic expression of motion events, the fact that motion verb roots might encode information apart from Path and Manner of motion is often overlooked. The present paper addresses the semantics of 376 English and 257 Spanish motion verbs by exploring the general conflations which are conveyed by these verbs. In this regard, both crosslinguistic similarities and differences will be pointed out. My research concludes that path-conflating and manner-conflating verbs amount to the largest part of their lexicons but that other minor patterns such as ground conflations, in contradiction to Talmy’s speculations on the lack of ground-conflating verbs, are present as well. Taken as a whole, this paper provides a rich and detailed account on the semantic nature of the English and the Spanish motion verb lexicons, and emerges as a helpful reference for researchers in this field.

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).

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