Overlaps in spatial encodings
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Olga A. Thomason
Abstract
This paper is a contrastive study of spatial encodings in the Greek manuscript of the New Testament and their parallels in Latin, Gothic, Classical Armenian and Old Church Slavic. Our data comes from the PROIEL corpus (University of Oslo). We take a strictly data-driven approach in this study and examine not only language-internal overlaps, but also cases where the five languages choose different strategies, e.g. where one or more languages select an ablative or perlative marker in a context where the rest of the languages use a locative marker. We find evidence for several types of overlaps among these counterparts: ablative-locative, locative-perlative and ablative-perlative (rare). The results show that these overlaps exist due to differences in perspectives from which a situation can be viewed. Prepositional phrases that deal with proximity or specify allative meanings, e.g. notions ‘behind/beyond’ and ‘in front of/before’ appear to be salient in these cases of overlap. Our contrastive approach to prepositional interactions reveals transitional zones between spatial notions which cannot be detected by a language-internal analysis. We see these zones as potential bridging contexts that may ease the semantic extension of spatial markers diachronically.
Abstract
This paper is a contrastive study of spatial encodings in the Greek manuscript of the New Testament and their parallels in Latin, Gothic, Classical Armenian and Old Church Slavic. Our data comes from the PROIEL corpus (University of Oslo). We take a strictly data-driven approach in this study and examine not only language-internal overlaps, but also cases where the five languages choose different strategies, e.g. where one or more languages select an ablative or perlative marker in a context where the rest of the languages use a locative marker. We find evidence for several types of overlaps among these counterparts: ablative-locative, locative-perlative and ablative-perlative (rare). The results show that these overlaps exist due to differences in perspectives from which a situation can be viewed. Prepositional phrases that deal with proximity or specify allative meanings, e.g. notions ‘behind/beyond’ and ‘in front of/before’ appear to be salient in these cases of overlap. Our contrastive approach to prepositional interactions reveals transitional zones between spatial notions which cannot be detected by a language-internal analysis. We see these zones as potential bridging contexts that may ease the semantic extension of spatial markers diachronically.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Abbreviations vii
- Space in Diachrony xi
- The goal-over-source principle in European languages 1
- Overlaps in spatial encodings 41
- Ablative and allative marking of static locations 67
- How should a “classical” Satellite-Framed Language behave? 95
- Differential Goal marking vs. differential Source marking in Ancient Greek 119
- New evidence for the Source–Goal asymmetry 147
- A diachronic take on the Source–Goal asymmetry 179
- Spatial interrogatives 207
- Asymmetries between Goal and Source prefixes in Spanish 241
- Asymmetries in path encoding in Sicilian 281
- Source-oriented and Goal-oriented events in Old and Modern French 305
- Source-Location ambiguity and incipient decline in the recent evolution of the English directional particle away 329
- Prepositional phrase vs. bare instrumental 347
- Language index 369
- Subject index 371
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Abbreviations vii
- Space in Diachrony xi
- The goal-over-source principle in European languages 1
- Overlaps in spatial encodings 41
- Ablative and allative marking of static locations 67
- How should a “classical” Satellite-Framed Language behave? 95
- Differential Goal marking vs. differential Source marking in Ancient Greek 119
- New evidence for the Source–Goal asymmetry 147
- A diachronic take on the Source–Goal asymmetry 179
- Spatial interrogatives 207
- Asymmetries between Goal and Source prefixes in Spanish 241
- Asymmetries in path encoding in Sicilian 281
- Source-oriented and Goal-oriented events in Old and Modern French 305
- Source-Location ambiguity and incipient decline in the recent evolution of the English directional particle away 329
- Prepositional phrase vs. bare instrumental 347
- Language index 369
- Subject index 371
