Chapter 2. Expressing and categorizing motion in French and English
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Maya Hickmann✝
Abstract
Language-specific properties influence motion expression (Slobin 2004; Talmy 2000), but it is still debated whether they also influence non-verbal spatial cognition. We compare how English and French speakers perform three tasks involving motion events: non-verbal categorization based on cartoons during a dual task (articulatory suppression); verbal categorization involving target sentences; and descriptions of motion events. Descriptions show more manner expression in English and variation in both groups as a function of event properties. However, both groups frequently choose Path as categorization criterion, particularly in verbal categorization, but language effects do show that English speakers are more sensitive to event properties. Thus, typology has a strong impact on verbal cognition but also a partial influence on non-verbal cognition that must be taken into account in future research on the relation between language and thought.
Abstract
Language-specific properties influence motion expression (Slobin 2004; Talmy 2000), but it is still debated whether they also influence non-verbal spatial cognition. We compare how English and French speakers perform three tasks involving motion events: non-verbal categorization based on cartoons during a dual task (articulatory suppression); verbal categorization involving target sentences; and descriptions of motion events. Descriptions show more manner expression in English and variation in both groups as a function of event properties. However, both groups frequently choose Path as categorization criterion, particularly in verbal categorization, but language effects do show that English speakers are more sensitive to event properties. Thus, typology has a strong impact on verbal cognition but also a partial influence on non-verbal cognition that must be taken into account in future research on the relation between language and thought.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Editor and contributors xi
- Foreword. Past, present, and future of motion research 1
- Introduction. Motion and semantic typology 13
-
Part I. Delving into motion event typology
- Chapter 1. The typology of manner expressions 39
- Chapter 2. Expressing and categorizing motion in French and English 61
- Chapter 3. The functional nature of deictic verbs and the coding patterns of Deixis 95
- Chapter 4. The importance of minority languages in motion event typology 123
- Chapter 5. Latin to Ancient Italian motion constructions 151
- Chapter 6. The early life of borrowed path verbs in English 177
- Chapter 7. Non-actual motion in language and experience 205
- Chapter 8. Metaphorical motion constructions across specialized genres 229
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Part II. Expanding motion event typology
- Chapter 9. Crossing the road or crossing the mind 257
- Chapter 10. Thinking for speaking about motion in a second language 279
- Chapter 11. Motion event contrasts in Romance languages 301
- Chapter 12. Verb-framed, satellite-framed or in between? 329
- Chapter 13. On the reception of translations 367
- Chapter 14. Applying language typology 399
- Afterword. Typologies and language use 419
- Author index 447
- Subject index 453
- Language index 459
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Editor and contributors xi
- Foreword. Past, present, and future of motion research 1
- Introduction. Motion and semantic typology 13
-
Part I. Delving into motion event typology
- Chapter 1. The typology of manner expressions 39
- Chapter 2. Expressing and categorizing motion in French and English 61
- Chapter 3. The functional nature of deictic verbs and the coding patterns of Deixis 95
- Chapter 4. The importance of minority languages in motion event typology 123
- Chapter 5. Latin to Ancient Italian motion constructions 151
- Chapter 6. The early life of borrowed path verbs in English 177
- Chapter 7. Non-actual motion in language and experience 205
- Chapter 8. Metaphorical motion constructions across specialized genres 229
-
Part II. Expanding motion event typology
- Chapter 9. Crossing the road or crossing the mind 257
- Chapter 10. Thinking for speaking about motion in a second language 279
- Chapter 11. Motion event contrasts in Romance languages 301
- Chapter 12. Verb-framed, satellite-framed or in between? 329
- Chapter 13. On the reception of translations 367
- Chapter 14. Applying language typology 399
- Afterword. Typologies and language use 419
- Author index 447
- Subject index 453
- Language index 459