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Chapter 5. Latin to Ancient Italian motion constructions

A complex typological shift
  • Monica Mosca
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Motion and Space across Languages
This chapter is in the book Motion and Space across Languages

Abstract

Cognitive linguists traditionally view the evolution of motion constructions from Latin to Italian as a typological change from an S-framed to a V-framed language. Empirical data from some Late Latin travel reports and the Early Italian texts made available by the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano (OVI) show, instead, that the observed linguistic changes naturally follow from a rearrangement of the balance between the elements involved since Classical Latin (verb prefixes, prepositions, cases). Each motion schema has evolved according to idiosyncratic lines, thus yielding the present variety of motion expressions. It is, therefore, more appropriate to view this evolution as a restructuring of a single linguistic type, characterized by the variety of constructions and the instability of many of them.

Abstract

Cognitive linguists traditionally view the evolution of motion constructions from Latin to Italian as a typological change from an S-framed to a V-framed language. Empirical data from some Late Latin travel reports and the Early Italian texts made available by the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano (OVI) show, instead, that the observed linguistic changes naturally follow from a rearrangement of the balance between the elements involved since Classical Latin (verb prefixes, prepositions, cases). Each motion schema has evolved according to idiosyncratic lines, thus yielding the present variety of motion expressions. It is, therefore, more appropriate to view this evolution as a restructuring of a single linguistic type, characterized by the variety of constructions and the instability of many of them.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Editor and contributors xi
  4. Foreword. Past, present, and future of motion research 1
  5. Introduction. Motion and semantic typology 13
  6. Part I. Delving into motion event typology
  7. Chapter 1. The typology of manner expressions 39
  8. Chapter 2. Expressing and categorizing motion in French and English 61
  9. Chapter 3. The functional nature of deictic verbs and the coding patterns of Deixis 95
  10. Chapter 4. The importance of minority languages in motion event typology 123
  11. Chapter 5. Latin to Ancient Italian motion constructions 151
  12. Chapter 6. The early life of borrowed path verbs in English 177
  13. Chapter 7. Non-actual motion in language and experience 205
  14. Chapter 8. Metaphorical motion constructions across specialized genres 229
  15. Part II. Expanding motion event typology
  16. Chapter 9. Crossing the road or crossing the mind 257
  17. Chapter 10. Thinking for speaking about motion in a second language 279
  18. Chapter 11. Motion event contrasts in Romance languages 301
  19. Chapter 12. Verb-framed, satellite-framed or in between? 329
  20. Chapter 13. On the reception of translations 367
  21. Chapter 14. Applying language typology 399
  22. Afterword. Typologies and language use 419
  23. Author index 447
  24. Subject index 453
  25. Language index 459
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.59.07mos

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Editor and contributors xi
  4. Foreword. Past, present, and future of motion research 1
  5. Introduction. Motion and semantic typology 13
  6. Part I. Delving into motion event typology
  7. Chapter 1. The typology of manner expressions 39
  8. Chapter 2. Expressing and categorizing motion in French and English 61
  9. Chapter 3. The functional nature of deictic verbs and the coding patterns of Deixis 95
  10. Chapter 4. The importance of minority languages in motion event typology 123
  11. Chapter 5. Latin to Ancient Italian motion constructions 151
  12. Chapter 6. The early life of borrowed path verbs in English 177
  13. Chapter 7. Non-actual motion in language and experience 205
  14. Chapter 8. Metaphorical motion constructions across specialized genres 229
  15. Part II. Expanding motion event typology
  16. Chapter 9. Crossing the road or crossing the mind 257
  17. Chapter 10. Thinking for speaking about motion in a second language 279
  18. Chapter 11. Motion event contrasts in Romance languages 301
  19. Chapter 12. Verb-framed, satellite-framed or in between? 329
  20. Chapter 13. On the reception of translations 367
  21. Chapter 14. Applying language typology 399
  22. Afterword. Typologies and language use 419
  23. Author index 447
  24. Subject index 453
  25. Language index 459
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