Papers by Wojciech Lewandowski
En los últimos años han aparecido numerosos trabajos que se centran en la estructura argumental d... more En los últimos años han aparecido numerosos trabajos que se centran en la estructura argumental de los eventos de movimiento (Goldberg 1995, 2006; Talmy, 1991, 2000, inter alia). El presente artículo, que se inscribe en la misma línea de investigación, pretende explorar, desde una perspectiva tipológico-cognitiva, dos manifestaciones no prototípicas de la llamada «construcción de movimiento causado» en castellano y polaco, que denominamos «la construcción dativa de movimiento causado » y «la construcción locativa de movimiento causado», respectivamente. En consonancia con el carácter interdisciplinario de la ciencia cognitiva moderna, su análisis lingüístico se situará en el panorama más amplio de la cognición espacial humana (Lakusta y Landau 2005, Lakusta y otros 2007).
This paper investigates the acquisition of the motion verbs COME and GO by Polish speakers of Spa... more This paper investigates the acquisition of the motion verbs COME and GO by Polish speakers of Spanish L2. I show that whereas these verbs encode deictic information in Spanish, in Polish their use relies on non-deictic factors. In particular, COME is preferred when a goal-oriented perspective is adopted, while GO implies an source-oriented conceptualization of the motion event. Following Slobin (1996), I demonstrate that these typological contrasts yield different patterns of thinking for speaking, which influence L2 acquisition even at advanced stages.
I propose a comparative analysis of the locative alternation in Polish and Spanish. I adopt a con... more I propose a comparative analysis of the locative alternation in Polish and Spanish. I adopt a constructional theory of argument structure (Goldberg (1995)), according to which the locative alternation is an epiphenomenon of the compatibility of a single verb meaning with two different constructions: the
caused-motion construction and the causative + with adjunct construction. As claimed by Pinker (1989), a verb must specify a manner of motion from which a particular change of state can be obtained in order to be able to appear in both constructional schemas. However, I show through a corpus study that the compatibility between verbal and constructional meaning is further restricted by Talmy’s (1985, 1991, 2000) distinction between verb-framed and satellite-framed languages. In particular, Talmy’s lexicalization pattern theory systematically explains why both the token frequency and the type frequency of the alternating verbs are considerably higher in Polish than in Spanish.
We provide a constructional account of unselected objects in Polish with special focus on valence... more We provide a constructional account of unselected objects in Polish with special focus on valence augmentation and valence creation processes (Michaelis and Ruppenhofer 2001a, 2001b) involved in prze-prefixed predications. Unselected objects appear in two transitive patterns, which we label Object-as-Figure and Object-as-Ground constructions. Unlike most non-cognitivist approaches (cf. Spencer and Zaretskaya 1998) and in accordance with Cognitive Grammar proposals (cf. Janda 1985; Dąbrowska 1996), we argue that prefixes do not have a vague meaning nor are sometimes mere aspectual markers. In particular , we show that the semantics of both prze-patterns is based on an image schema, where a Figure physically crosses a Ground. Furthermore, we show, through a corpus study, that this spatial configuration provides the basis for a number of metaphorical extensions of the central constructional meaning. However , in contrast to some Cognitive Grammar approaches (cf. Dąbrowska 1996), we propose that the prefix is not added to the verb, changing its valency, but rather it is the verb (or other grammatical category) that is integrated into the prefixed construction. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the analytical machinery of Construction Grammar that is used to account for irregular patterns, i.e., direct objects not involved in the verb's argument structure, can also be used to account for regular syntactic patterns, i.e., prze-constructions with prototypical direct objects.
This paper aims to analyze the interaction between prefixes, verbs, and abstract argument structu... more This paper aims to analyze the interaction between prefixes, verbs, and abstract argument structure constructions, using as a testing ground the locative alternation. It has been assumed that in order to participate in the locative alternation, a verb must specify a manner of motion from which a change of state can be obtained (see Pinker 1989). However, this generalization does not take into account the argument structure effects involved in verbal prefixation in Slavic where some change-of-location verbs can appear in the change-of-state variant, when headed by a resultative prefix. In Olbishevska's (2005) generative-derivational analysis of the locative alternation in Russian, it is claimed that resultative prefixes are derivational morphemes subcategorizing for a location argument. While I agree that it is the resultative prefix that makes the alternation possible, I propose that it is not the case that a new verb with a different argument structure is derived by means of prefixation, but rather that it is the verb that integrates into the prefixed change-of-state variant. I analyze the change-of-state variant in the spirit of Goldberg's (1995, 2002) Construction Grammar and Langacker's (1987, 1991, 2008) Cognitive Grammar approach and show that resultative prefixes are not abstract syntactic features, but rather that each prefixed change-of-state construction is based on a specific configuration between the locatum and the location. I demonstrate that the interaction between resultative prefixes, alternating verbs, and the more abstract change-of-state variant is driven by semantic coherence.
We analyze the expression of motion in translations of Tolkien's The Hobbit into Polish and Germa... more We analyze the expression of motion in translations of Tolkien's The Hobbit into Polish and German within the framework of Talmy's (1991, 2000) typology of macro-events and Slobin's (1991, 1996) " Thinking for speaking " hypothesis. We show that although both languages pertain to the satellite-framed typologi-cal group, Polish provides less diversified Manner and Path descriptions than German, which exploits the satellite-framed lexicalization pattern by far more productively. We relate these contrasts in the rhetorical style to the particular morpho-syntactic and semantic characteristics of the languages under discussion.
Thesis Chapters by Wojciech Lewandowski
José Augustín Goytisolo iv v AGRADECIMIENTOS Quisiera expresar mi más profundo agradecimiento a… ... more José Augustín Goytisolo iv v AGRADECIMIENTOS Quisiera expresar mi más profundo agradecimiento a… … Maria Lluïsa Hernanz por su apoyo científico, pedagógico y moral desde mis primeros días en la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, hace casi siete años ya… Por su confianza y sus sabios consejos -los lingüísticos y los "extralingüísticos" -, por su cariño y por dejarme la libertad de pensamiento. Sin su grandiosa ayuda e implicación, sin sus palabras de ánimo y consuelo en momentos de desesperación y agobio esta tesis no habría visto la luz.
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Papers by Wojciech Lewandowski
caused-motion construction and the causative + with adjunct construction. As claimed by Pinker (1989), a verb must specify a manner of motion from which a particular change of state can be obtained in order to be able to appear in both constructional schemas. However, I show through a corpus study that the compatibility between verbal and constructional meaning is further restricted by Talmy’s (1985, 1991, 2000) distinction between verb-framed and satellite-framed languages. In particular, Talmy’s lexicalization pattern theory systematically explains why both the token frequency and the type frequency of the alternating verbs are considerably higher in Polish than in Spanish.
Thesis Chapters by Wojciech Lewandowski
caused-motion construction and the causative + with adjunct construction. As claimed by Pinker (1989), a verb must specify a manner of motion from which a particular change of state can be obtained in order to be able to appear in both constructional schemas. However, I show through a corpus study that the compatibility between verbal and constructional meaning is further restricted by Talmy’s (1985, 1991, 2000) distinction between verb-framed and satellite-framed languages. In particular, Talmy’s lexicalization pattern theory systematically explains why both the token frequency and the type frequency of the alternating verbs are considerably higher in Polish than in Spanish.