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Intra-language differences of motion event encoding – a case of advent paths in Mandarin Chinese

  • Sai Ma ORCID logo , Ye Jin ORCID logo EMAIL logo und Michael Barlow ORCID logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 28. Juli 2025
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Folia Linguistica
Aus der Zeitschrift Folia Linguistica

Abstract

Despite considerable research on motion event encoding, studies from the perspective of intra-language differences are still few in number. To examine whether motion event encoding is influenced by event types (translational vs. fictive events), this study investigates lexicalization patterns and associated linguistic features of Mandarin advent path (one type of fictive motion) expressions and compares them with existing findings on translational motion event expressions. Data were collected from a self-built corpus. Results show that fictive motion expressions differ from translational motion event ones in encoding motion events. Specifically, in Mandarin advent path expressions, 1) there are three main lexicalization patterns: the satellite-framed language pattern, the double-framing pattern, and the verb-framed language pattern; 2) the frequency of path verbs is similar to that of manner verbs; 3) alternative expressions of manner information are used frequently; and 4) the complexity of Ground encoding is low. These findings suggest that event types contribute to intra-language differences of motion event encoding and that a motion event encoding pattern is better applied to a certain event type in a certain language than to a language as a whole.


Corresponding author: Ye Jin, Department of Foreign Studies, North China Electric Power University, Room 310, 689 Huadian Road, Baoding, Hebei 071003, P.R. China, E-mail:

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission. SM: Conceptualization; Methodology; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing. YJ: Data curation; Writing – review & editing. MB: Conceptualization; Writing – review & editing.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: Funding agency: R&D Program of Beijing Municipal Education Commission (北京市教育委员会人文社会科学研究计划一般项目: 工作记忆视角下伴语手势对二语口语的提升作用). Grant number: SM202310028002.

  7. Data availability: Not applicable.

List of abbreviations

AEM

alternative expressions of manner

ASSOC

associative

CLF

classifier

COP

copula

DUR

durative

GEN

genitive

NMLZ

nominalizer

PFV

perfective

POSS

possessive

Appendix

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《文化苦旅》, 余秋雨, 2001, 上海: 东方出版中心.

《行者无疆》, 余秋雨, 2001, 北京: 华艺出版社.

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《出走十五年》, 余秋雨, 2004, 海口: 南海出版公司.

《余秋雨散文: 插图珍藏版》, 余秋雨, 2005, 北京: 人民文学出版社.

《东西南北人: 中国人的性格与文化》, 博文 (主编), 2001, 北京: 当代世界出版社.

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Received: 2024-12-03
Accepted: 2025-07-09
Published Online: 2025-07-28

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