Chapter 6. Attraction of attention in perceived motion events weighed against typology and cognitive cost
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Takahiro Morita
Abstract
This chapter explores construction types and the frequency of the use of optional syntactic elements in French motion descriptions. In Talmy’s typology on Satellite- vs. Verb-framed languages, French is characterized as using the construction type of verb-framed languages for motion events, and according to his principles on the correlation between the fore- and backgroundedness of semantic components of motion and the cognitive cost of expressing them, manner and other concepts are expected to occur less frequently in foregrounded positions outside of the main verb than in backgrounded position in the main verb. This chapter shows, through an experimental method, that facts in French are more complex, and that the attraction of attention in perceived motion events has an impact on the choice of construction types and motivates manner and deixis to be expressed more frequently in optional syntactic elements under certain circumstances than Talmy’s principles would predict.
Abstract
This chapter explores construction types and the frequency of the use of optional syntactic elements in French motion descriptions. In Talmy’s typology on Satellite- vs. Verb-framed languages, French is characterized as using the construction type of verb-framed languages for motion events, and according to his principles on the correlation between the fore- and backgroundedness of semantic components of motion and the cognitive cost of expressing them, manner and other concepts are expected to occur less frequently in foregrounded positions outside of the main verb than in backgrounded position in the main verb. This chapter shows, through an experimental method, that facts in French are more complex, and that the attraction of attention in perceived motion events has an impact on the choice of construction types and motivates manner and deixis to be expressed more frequently in optional syntactic elements under certain circumstances than Talmy’s principles would predict.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors and contributors vii
- Preface vii
- Introduction. Motion event descriptions in broader perspective 1
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Part I. Path and Deixis in individual languages
- Chapter 1. Distinct coding of Deixis and Path in Kathmandu Newar 25
- Chapter 2. Patterns of deictic expressions in Hungarian motion event descriptions 41
- Chapter 3. Patterns of path encoding in German 63
- Chapter 4. Syntactic and semantic structures of Thai motion expressions 105
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Part II. Crosslinguistic and theoretical studies
- Chapter 5. A fine-grained analysis of manner salience 143
- Chapter 6. Attraction of attention in perceived motion events weighed against typology and cognitive cost 181
- Chapter 7. Should Talmy’s motion typology be expanded to visual motion? 205
- Chapter 8. Looking into visual motion expressions in Dutch, English, and French 235
- Chapter 9. Neutral and specialized path coding 281
- Subject index 319
- Name index 317
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors and contributors vii
- Preface vii
- Introduction. Motion event descriptions in broader perspective 1
-
Part I. Path and Deixis in individual languages
- Chapter 1. Distinct coding of Deixis and Path in Kathmandu Newar 25
- Chapter 2. Patterns of deictic expressions in Hungarian motion event descriptions 41
- Chapter 3. Patterns of path encoding in German 63
- Chapter 4. Syntactic and semantic structures of Thai motion expressions 105
-
Part II. Crosslinguistic and theoretical studies
- Chapter 5. A fine-grained analysis of manner salience 143
- Chapter 6. Attraction of attention in perceived motion events weighed against typology and cognitive cost 181
- Chapter 7. Should Talmy’s motion typology be expanded to visual motion? 205
- Chapter 8. Looking into visual motion expressions in Dutch, English, and French 235
- Chapter 9. Neutral and specialized path coding 281
- Subject index 319
- Name index 317
