John Benjamins Publishing Company
Manner as a cluster concept
Abstract
The chapter deals with the lexical coding of manner of motion in French. A twofold aim is pursued: to provide a better understanding of what manner is from the semantic point of view and to determine what makes some motion verbs express manner and others not. First, I show that there are five types of linguistic devices involved in the expression of manner: lexical, syntactic, morphological, grammatical and prosodic ones. Next, I propose a more comprehensive definition of the concept of manner, arguing that it is compositional by nature and by no means monolithic. Finally, adopting Levin and Rappaport Hovav’s lexical decomposition approach, I report an in-depth semantic analysis of 562 manner of motion verbs in French and show that manner interpretation in their meaning is generated by a small set of more basic, non-idiosyncratic semantic features which fill a modifier position and whose role consists in diversifying, and thereby in modifying, the root predicate.
Abstract
The chapter deals with the lexical coding of manner of motion in French. A twofold aim is pursued: to provide a better understanding of what manner is from the semantic point of view and to determine what makes some motion verbs express manner and others not. First, I show that there are five types of linguistic devices involved in the expression of manner: lexical, syntactic, morphological, grammatical and prosodic ones. Next, I propose a more comprehensive definition of the concept of manner, arguing that it is compositional by nature and by no means monolithic. Finally, adopting Levin and Rappaport Hovav’s lexical decomposition approach, I report an in-depth semantic analysis of 562 manner of motion verbs in French and show that manner interpretation in their meaning is generated by a small set of more basic, non-idiosyncratic semantic features which fill a modifier position and whose role consists in diversifying, and thereby in modifying, the root predicate.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments ix
- Recent advances in the study of motion in French 1
-
Part I. Arguments, modifiers, asymmetry of motion
- About asymmetry of motion in French 31
- French motion verbs 67
- From il s’envole hors to il sort du nid 109
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Part II. Manner of motion and fictive motion
- Manner as a cluster concept 141
- Motion verbs and evaluative morphology 179
- Fictive motion in French 217
-
Part III. Psycholinguistic issues
- Casting an eye on motion events 249
- Structure of French expression of motion 289
-
Part IV. Formal and computational aspects of motion-based narrations
- A computational account of virtual travelers in the Montagovian generative lexicon 323
- Geoparsing and geocoding places in a dynamic space context 353
- Subject index 387
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments ix
- Recent advances in the study of motion in French 1
-
Part I. Arguments, modifiers, asymmetry of motion
- About asymmetry of motion in French 31
- French motion verbs 67
- From il s’envole hors to il sort du nid 109
-
Part II. Manner of motion and fictive motion
- Manner as a cluster concept 141
- Motion verbs and evaluative morphology 179
- Fictive motion in French 217
-
Part III. Psycholinguistic issues
- Casting an eye on motion events 249
- Structure of French expression of motion 289
-
Part IV. Formal and computational aspects of motion-based narrations
- A computational account of virtual travelers in the Montagovian generative lexicon 323
- Geoparsing and geocoding places in a dynamic space context 353
- Subject index 387
