How should a “classical” Satellite-Framed Language behave?
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Claudio Iacobini
Abstract
This paper discusses the encoding of motion events in a corpus of Ancient Greek and Latin texts, focusing on the differences in the expression of Sources and Goals in the two languages (both classified as Satellite-Framed in Talmy’s typology). For this analysis, we have adopted a number of parameters suitable for the investigation of Source and Goal encoding in Path expressions. The corpus has been manually tagged with the help of a software tool dedicated to motion event annotation (Modeg). The results of the analysis confirm the widespread tendency to express Goal more frequently and in a more detailed way compared to Source, and reveal subtle differences in the way in which Ancient Greek and Latin combine prepositional marking with directional preverbs. We argue that the common tendency to express simple Paths (mostly Goal-oriented) can be interpreted from a diachronic perspective as one of the main factors enhancing the diachronic change of both languages towards the preference for the Verb-Framed type of encoding.
Abstract
This paper discusses the encoding of motion events in a corpus of Ancient Greek and Latin texts, focusing on the differences in the expression of Sources and Goals in the two languages (both classified as Satellite-Framed in Talmy’s typology). For this analysis, we have adopted a number of parameters suitable for the investigation of Source and Goal encoding in Path expressions. The corpus has been manually tagged with the help of a software tool dedicated to motion event annotation (Modeg). The results of the analysis confirm the widespread tendency to express Goal more frequently and in a more detailed way compared to Source, and reveal subtle differences in the way in which Ancient Greek and Latin combine prepositional marking with directional preverbs. We argue that the common tendency to express simple Paths (mostly Goal-oriented) can be interpreted from a diachronic perspective as one of the main factors enhancing the diachronic change of both languages towards the preference for the Verb-Framed type of encoding.
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
