Motion event typology

The expressions of motions in various languages have drawn the attention of many researchers for the past few decades (Talmy, 1975, 1985, 1991, 2000; Berman

& Slobin, 1996, 2004). Talmy (1975) was the first to address the issue of the relation between the semantic structures and the lexical patterns in motion events. A motion event is defined as “a situation containing movement or the maintenance of a stationary location alike” (Talmy 1985, p.60). He categorized the semantic elements into several categories, including “Motion”, “Figure”, “Ground”, “Path”, “Manner”, and “Cause”. The lexical elements, or surface elements, include “verb”, “adposition”, and “subordinate clause”. “Motion” refers to its presence per se in motion events. A motion clause consists of at least one linguistic unit describing the Figure changing its location in the time period under consideration, including the Figure moving between two macro-locations, changing posture, disappearing or appearing with respect to the ground, and engaging or disengaging to or from the ground (Talmy, 2000; Guo & Chen, 2009). “Figure” refers to the entity that moves or is located.

Figure can move autonomously or be caused to moved. “Ground” is the referent object or referent point with respect to the Figure’s movement. “Path” is the course that Figure follows when moving or that Figure occupies with respect to the Ground.

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Path is the core element in a motion event, since there must be a course when the Figure moves in every motion event. The example (1) presents an example with these four basic elements encoded in an English sentence:

(1) The man came into the house.

[Figure] [Motion] [Path] [Ground]

The last two semantic elements “Manner” and “Cause” are considered to be the external semantic elements, since they may not be mentioned in a motion event.

“Manner” is the way in which the figure moves. It’s the co-events of motion. Slobin (2004) mentioned that Manner indicates “motor pattern, rate, rhythm, posture, affect, and evaluative factors” that modulate Motion. Pourcel (2003) mentioned that Manner also includes force dynamics, attitude, and encoding instrument that concerns Motion. “Cause” is the external force that moves the Figure. The example is shown in (2) (Talmy, 1985):

(2) The pencil rolled off the table.

[Manner]

The pencil blew off the table.

[Cause]

Talmy compared the lexicalization structures across different languages, and found that Motion, as a universal phenomenon, could be expressed in different ways

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in typologically different languages. The typological characteristics occurred frequently and pervasively in colloquial style. Different language families tended to conflate Motion with different semantic elements and different surface element as well. The most distinct character was that “Path”, the core semantic element, was encoded in syntactically different fashions (Talmy, 1985, 1991). In some languages, Path was encoded in the main verb, occupying the main position of a sentence. Such languages included Spanish, Turkish, and Hebrew. These languages were categorized as verb-framed languages (V-languages). In other languages, Path was expressed by a subordinate component as a satellite element associated with the verb (e.g.

prepositions or particles). These kinds of languages included English, Russian, and German. They were called satellite-framed languages (S-languages).

For example, when describing the motion event of a balloon (Figure) moving upward (Path) through the chimney (Ground) by floating (Manner), a Spanish (V-language) speaker normally makes a sentence as (3) (Talmy, 1985):

(3) El globo subió por la chimenea (flotando).

the balloon rose through the chimney (floating)

In Spanish, Path (moving upward) is encoded in the main verb subir (rise). The verb subir clearly indicates the meaning of moving upward. Manner, on the other hand, is expressed by a dispensable particle flotando (floating). As for English, an S-language, the same motion event is often encoded as:

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(4) The balloon floated up through the chimney.

Different from Spanish, Path in English is encoded in the particle “up”, and the main verb “float” bears the meaning of Manner.

The typological tendencies of motion expressions have aroused the interests of many other researchers. Slobin (1996, 2000, 2004) believed that motion event typology influenced the habitual language use of speakers of different languages. He emphasized the importance of “the typologies of language use” (Slobin, 2004). That is, linguistic patterns occurred in dynamic and interactive situations when language was used. Therefore, it was necessary to study actual language use in a diversity of languages and with different types of data. Slobin (2004) examined children and adults’ narratives elicited from the wordless picture book Frog, where are you?

(Mayer, 1969) in different languages, and found several differences in their rhetorical style. First, the usage of Manner was different in type and frequency. S-language speakers tended to use more diverse lexicon of Manner than V-language speakers. S-language speakers also mentioned Manner more frequently than V-S-language speakers. For example, in Frog story, there was a scene where an owl emerges from the tree. English (S-language) speakers used Manner verb to describe the scene, such as: An owl popped out (Slobin 2004, p.224). Spanish speakers use Path verb describing the same scene, such as: Sale un buho “Exits an owl”. Second, different languages differed in the packaging of Path components. S-language speakers seemed to encode more Path segments per sentence by using multiple Path satellites prepositions, e.g. The frog crawled out of the jar and through the window into the

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woods. (Slobin, 2004). On the other hand, V-language speakers encoded Path by

using one bare verb per clause, such sentences translated in English would be like:

The frog exiled the jar, passed through the window, and entered the woods (Slobin,

2004). Third, the description of Ground was different. S-language speakers provided more elaborated Ground information, and provided such information more frequently than V-language speakers. Finally, Slobin (2004) suggested that the motion expressions could be affected by other factors beyond the typological one. Those possible factors included patterns of motion expression which arise in language use, in the culture, and in the communicative aims of the speakers. Slobin believed these factors above all contributed in shaping the motion encoding among different languages but he had not mentioned further evidence supporting how communicative aims could affect motion event expressions.