Volume 45, Issue 5part6

1. The linguistic interest of positional verbs This special issue is devoted to a relatively neglected topic in linguistics, namely the verbal component of locative statements. English tends, of course, to use a simple copula in utterances like “The cup is on the table”, but many languages, perhaps as many as half of the world's languages, have a set of alternate verbs, or alternate verbal affixes, which contrast in this slot. Often these are classificatory verbs of ‘sitting’, ‘standing’ and ‘lying’. For this reason, perhaps, Aristotle listed position among his basic (“noncomposite”) categories.

As proposed by Ameka and Levinson (this issue) locative verb systems can be classified into four types according to the number of verbs distinguished. This article addresses the lower extreme of this typology: languages which offer no choice of verb in the basic locative function (BLF). These languages have either a single locative verb, or do not use verbs at all in the basic locative construction (BLC, the construction used to encode the BLF). A close analysis is presented of the behavior of BLF predicate types in four genetically diverse languages: Chukchi (Chukotko-Kamchatkan, Russian Arctic), and Lavukaleve (Papuan isolate, Solomon Islands), which have BLC with the normal copula/existential verb for the language; Tiriyó (Cariban/Taranoan, Brazil), which has an optional copula in the BLC; and Saliba (Austronesian/Western Oceanic, Papua New Guinea), a language with a verbless clause as the BLC. The status of these languages in the typology of positional verb systems is reviewed, and other relevant typological generalizations are discussed.

This article discusses the semantics and pragmatics of postural, existential and positional verbs occurring in the basic locative construction of Goemai, a West Chadic language of Central Nigeria. The Goemai system is of special interest to the typology proposed in this issue, as it presents language-internal evidence for the existence of two different types of locative verbs: postural-type verbs and positional-type verbs. In most respects, Goemai patterns with postural-type languages: it has a small set of postural verbs that codes a limited range of semantic notions and that is used in both assertional and presuppositional ways. In addition, Goemai can recruit other verbs to occur in the basic locative construction: an existential verb that is available in many contexts where other postural-type languages tend to resort to the presuppositional use of posturals; and positional verbs that constitute a distinct form class and that can be used in an assertional way only. The article investigates the interaction of postural, existential, and positional verbs in Goemai, relating them to the proposed typology.

In Trumai, three constructions can possibly be used as a reply to a where question: (i) a construction with a positional verb, such as ‘sit’, ‘lie’, ‘stand’; (ii) a copular construction; (iii) a zero-copula construction. In the current study, I analyze the relationship among them, trying to determine what the Basic Locative Construction (BLC) of Trumai is. The main hypotheses are: (i) the zero-copula construction is just a subtype of the copular one; (ii) the system of Trumai is moving from one type of BLC (copular) to another type (positional verb), but the move is not completed yet, and this would be the reason why both constructions can function as replies to where questions. I analyze the relationship between these constructions and how they code spatial information. Another relevant issue explored in this article is the class of positional verbs that occur in the locative constructions. I describe the formal characteristics and semantics of such verbs, exploring the role that these verbs can have in classifying types of Figures.

This article discusses the contribution of the verbal element in static locative descriptions in Tidore, a Western Papuan outlier spoken in the North Moluccas of Indonesia. Where in most languages the verbal element in these constructions can be characterized as pertaining to aspects of disposition or posture of Figure or Ground, or to the topological relation between Figure and Ground, in Tidore the verbal element is one of a set of “locational” verbs. These locational verbs express the Ground space in which the Figure can be found in relation to the Deictic Center. Dispositional verbs may also be used in locative descriptions, but only in restricted contexts, requiring the expression of a human agent to bring about the locative relation.

In this paper we will investigate the meaning and use of positional verbs in colloquial Standard German. Positional verbs are defined as those verbs which may appear in the basic construction that functions as an answer to a “where”-question, the so-called Basic Locative Construction (BLC). Within this class of verbs, we focus on those positionals which are used to describe the configuration of inanimate movable objects. We will demonstrate that German exhibits the characteristics of a positional (or “multiverb”) language, i.e., a language that uses a comparatively large set of verbs in the BLC. The ten positionals used most frequently in our data are stehen ‘stand’, liegen ‘lie’, hängen ‘hang’, lehnen ‘lean’, stecken ‘be in tight fit, be stuck’, klemmen ‘be stuck, be jammed’, kleben ‘stick by means of glue’, haften ‘adhere’, schwimmen ‘be afloat in liquid’, and schweben ‘be afloat’. We will identify the conditions under which the positional verbs are used and provide a semantic characterization for each of them, paying particular attention to alternative categorizations, fuzzy boundaries and prototype effects.

In this article, we discuss the meaning and use of positional verbs in the South-Caucasian language Laz. Positional verbs are defined as those verbs which — in combination with one of several locational verbal prefixes (preverbs) — may appear in the basic construction that functions as an answer to a “where” question, the so-called basic locative construction (BLC). Within this class of verbs, we pay particular attention to those positionals which are used regularly in our data to describe the configuration of inanimate movable objects. Laz is shown to be a multiverb language, i.e., a language that uses a comparatively large set of verbs in the BLC. The fourteen verbs in question are PRV- dgun ‘stand’, PRV- ren ‘stand’, PRV- zun ‘lie’, PRV- xen ‘sit, stay’, PRV- bɣun ‘be located as mass’, PRV- mpiy ‘be spread’, PRV- sun ‘be smeared’, PRV- tun ‘cover’, PRV- bun ‘hang’, PRV- nʒoy ‘stick, be stuck’, PRV- n un ‘be dipped’, PRV- abun ‘stick to, be sticky’, PRV- orun ‘be bound’, PRV- gzun ‘burn’. The semantics and the use of these verbs are described in some detail including nontypical configurations, which trigger variation among speakers due to alternative categorizations and prototype effects.

This article examines the grammar, use and meaning of fifteen verbs used in the Basic Locative Construction (BLC) of Likpe — a Ghana-Togo-Mountain language. The verbs fall into four semantic subclasses: (a) basic topological relations: t ‘be.at’, tk ‘be.on’, kpé ‘be.in’, and fi ‘be.near’; (b) postural verbs: sí ‘sit’, ny ‘stand’, fáka ‘hang’, yóma ‘hang’, kps ‘lean’, fus ‘squat’, and labe ‘lie’; (c) “distribution” verbs: kpó ‘be spread, heaped,’ and tí ‘be covered’; and (d) “adhesion” verbs: má ‘be griped, be fixed’, mánkla ‘be stuck to’. Likpe locative predications reflect an ontological commitment to the overall topological relation between Figure and Ground and are not focused just on the Figure or the Ground. Various factors determine the choice of “competing” verbs for particular scenarios: animacy, nonindividuation of the Figure, permanency of the configuration and the speaker's desire to be referentially precise or to present stereotypical information. It is demonstrated that in situations where there is a choice, speakers tend to use the more general verbs (stereotype information). The implications of this tendency for the development of a language from a multiverb language using several verbs (e.g., 15) in its BLC to using only a small-set of verbs in its BLC, just as some of Likpe's neighbors have done, are considered.

The Mayan languages Tzeltal and Yucatec have large form classes of “dispositional” roots which lexicalize spatial properties such as orientation, support/suspension/blockage of motion, and configurations of parts of an entity with respect to other parts. But speakers of the two languages deploy this common lexical resource quite differently. The roots are used in both languages to convey dispositional information (e.g., answering “how” questions), but Tzeltal speakers also use them in canonical locative descriptions (e.g., answering “where” questions), whereas Yucatec speakers only use dispositionals in locative predications when prompted by the context to focus on dispositional properties. We describe the constructions used in locative and dispositional descriptions in response to two different picture stimuli sets. Evidence against the proposal that Tzeltal uses dispositionals to compensate for its single, semantically generic preposition (Brown 1994; Grinevald 2006) comes from the finding that Tzeltal speakers use relational spatial nominals in the “Ground phrase” — the expression of the place at which an entity is located — about as frequently as Yucatec speakers. We consider several alternative hypotheses, including a possible larger typological difference that leads Tzeltal speakers, but not Yucatec speakers, to prefer “theme-specific” verbs not just in locative predications, but in any predication involving a theme argument.

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