The path to no Path
Juan Romeu
Sign up for access to the world's latest research
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Abstract
AI
AI
This work examines the behavior of directional prepositions (Ps) in locative constructions, arguing that they elucidate why certain Ps denote punctual locations while implicating a scalar interpretation. It proposes a structural model that incorporates cartographic frameworks and asserts that path elements are stative, reliant on the relationship between grounded locations and paths. The findings aim to clarify the interplay between locative and directional uses of prepositions, contribute to existing linguistic typologies, and provide insights into cross-linguistic variations in parameter settings.
Key takeaways
- This way it is possible to explain: -why directional Ps appear in locative constructions -why directional Ps denote punctual locations, although they entail a scale (3) The door is to the left of the oven.
- Path is generally associated to directionality (cf.
- As Path elements are inherently stative and punctual:
- By means of modifiers it is possible to keep the same basic structure in different languages and explain the differences across them: Locative in the sense that its highest projection is RelP Directional in the sense that it entails two points, which is obligatory in order to have directionality * Disjoint or ScalarPoint don't obligatorily imply directionality: locative constructions * Directionality is possible without Disjoint or ScalarPoint: Route constructions c. It is possible to keep the same structure for lexical items like a in locative and directional constructions.
- Directionality is obtained by other means: the presence of modifiers and verbs of motion, for instance.
Related papers
Directionalized locatives: A label theoretic account.
The past two decades have seen the formation of a body of literature on the syntax and semantics of spatial expressions. Much of the syntactic work has been within the cartographic approach, which seeks to identify the functional sequence of a given domain (e.g., the papers contained in Cinque and Rizzi, 2010). In this section, I will first outline an analysis of English spatial P under the cartographic approach (Svenonius, 2010). I will then discuss some problems with how this approach treats directionalized locatives. PlaceP Place between KP the pylons b. Directionalized PP (following Svenonius, 2010) PathP Path ∅ PlaceP Place between KP the pylons
1. Locations and PATHS1
2014
An account of spatial semantics cannot fail to encompass three basic notions: location, change of location, and shape. While shapes can be considered to be properties of objects with a spatial dimension, locations and paths are relations between such objects. Most of the semantic and morphosyntactic literature, therefore concentrates on locations and paths. Without pursuing the intricacies of the semantics and logic of these notions, we take them to be basic and address the question of how these notions are reflected in syntax and morphology. There are indeed languages in which there is a direct grammatical correlate of the notions location and path. Accordingly, and following Jackendoff (1983) and Koopman (1993), we take the abstract structure of a spatial phrase in the verbal domain to be [V ' V o [PP DIR o [P ' LOC o [N ' N o] ] ]]. Our purpose here is to present new evidence for such a structure based on locality considerations. A robust notion of locality (heads ...
Prepositional Phrases of a Path
2020
This chapter focuses on the semantics of the prepositional phrases of a Path, po+DAT, cerez+ACC and skvoz′+ACC. The aim of the chapter is to explain the polysemy of these prepositional phrases by discovering the semantic links between their spatial and non-spatial senses and to reveal the patterns of semantic extensions. It is demonstrated that such notions associated with the image schema of a Path, as the Orientation of a Path, the Extent of a Path, as well as an Obstacle are important for the development of the non-spatial senses of these prepositional phrases.
Some Thoughts on the Semantics of Non-Straight Paths
Quantitative Investigations In Theoretical Linguistics ( …
Symmetric Paths: Their Structures and Relations
2011 IEEE Fifth International Conference on Semantic Computing, 2011
The goal of this paper is twofold: (i) the paper aims to characterize unique semantics of so called "symmetric" locatives like across the street-this will provide a guiding semantics for annotating a variety of paths; and (ii) the paper claims that we need "symmetric" paths to give a unified account of the various semantic effects of symmetric locatives. The paper illustrates several semantic effects induced by symmetric locatives: (i) symmetric underspecification, (ii) path-/event-quantification, (iii) static symmetric relations, and (iv) the symmetric inference by the adverb back. The paper defines the semantic class of symmetric locatives, and accounts for the symmetry effects in terms of properties and relations of Path Structure proposed by [1].
Disentangling manner and path
Cognitive Foundations of Language Structure and Use, 2013
The standard theory of lexicalization patterns in the encoding of motion events (STLP in the remainder of this chapter; cf. Slobin 1996b; has been used in such a great number of research projects in the past two decades that its extensive introduction is superfluous. However, in this contribution I argue that that some of the claims of 'mainstream' STLP research are problematic, both from an empirical and from a theoretical point of view. Instead of discussing the fundamentals of the theory, I focus directly on the aspect of the approach particularly relevant to this chapter, namely the causal relationships that are presupposed between the expression of two semantic domains, the domain of manner (of motion) and the domain of path.
Notion of Direction and Old English Prepositional Phrases
Topics in English Linguistics, 2010
From Motion Events To(wards) a Semantics of Relocation
The paper aims at further refining the theoretical tools and metalanguage available for comparing the lexicalisation of motion, and, in particular, the enterprise of moving (or being moved) from one place (Loc 1) to another (Loc 2), across languages, with special reference to the well-established distinction between Manner (and/or satellite-framed) and Path (and/or verb-framed) languages. Several authors have pointed out the need for a more consistent theoretical basis for (a) distinguishing so-called "motion events", "directed motion", etc. from motion in a wider sense, and (b) further specifying and differentiating the intuitively attractive, but vaguely defined parameters of Manner and Path. The presented approach addresses these issues in combination by suggesting a cross-linguistic situation and verb classification incorporating certain basic insights on pre-linguistic visual cognition involving delay-and-compare processing.
Path settings: How dynamic conceptualization permits the use of path expressions as setting adverbials
Path expressions are canonically verb modifiers that indicate a path traversed by a moving participant of the event, e.g., She ran from the church to the railway station. A canonical path is conceptually dependent on the motion event, since the nature of the motion determines its spatial position and direction. However, there are less canonical uses of path expressions where they take on the function of a setting adverbial and constitute a starting point for the predication, i.e., the element from whose perspective the event is construed. The direction and location of such a path are based on the conceptualization strategy of the speaker. An English example is There was dense fog all the way from the church to the railway station, which indicates the presence of a substance (fog) at every conceivable point along a path between two locations (the church and the station). In this chapter I refer to such autonomous path expressions as path settings. In a Cognitive Grammar framework, I argue that path settings are reminiscent of more canonical, static settings, with the obvious difference that they are directional. Using data from Finnish, I discuss three grammatical phenomena that contribute to the conceived autonomy of path expressions: case marking of the verbal trajector (nominative vs. partitive), particles indicating terminativity (‘as far as’ / ‘all the way to/from’), and the use of path adpositions (with meanings such as ‘through’, ‘via’, ‘across’, etc.) as prepositions or postpositions, where prepositions are more compatible with the autonomous setting function than postpositions.
Reflections on the Functional Characterization of Spatial Prepositions
Corela, 2010
Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 1 mai 2019. Corela-cognition, représentation, langage est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution-Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale-Partage dans les Mêmes Conditions 4.0 International.
Related papers
The superfluity of a 'path' case in english and the analysis of complex movement expressions
Prepositions of place (pos'tion) have been subclassified in various ways in recent lin uistics.
Locative and Directional Prepositions in Conceptual Spaces: The Role of Polar Convexity
Journal of Logic, Language and Information, 2015
We approach the semantics of prepositions from the perspective of conceptual spaces. Focusing on purely spatial locative and directional prepositions, we analyze both types of prepositions in terms of polar coordinates instead of Cartesian coordinates. This makes it possible to demonstrate that the property of convexity holds quite generally in the domain of prepositions of location and direction, supporting the important role that this property plays in conceptual spaces. Prepositions are a limited class of words, but with a wide range of meanings and uses, even if we consider only locative prepositions in one language, like English in, near, over or behind (Lindstromberg 2010). (1) a. There is a fly in my soup. b. The bomb went off near a guest house.
Many ways of moving along a path: What distinguishes prepositional and postpositional uses of Finnish path adpositions?
Finnish path adpositions meaning ‘through’, ‘along’, ‘across’, ‘past’, ‘over’ and ‘via’, can be used both prepositionally and postpositionally and are thus representative of the typologically rare class of bipositions. In the literature, the alternation has been taken to reflect differences in style rather than meaning. The current study shows, however, that there are semantic differences between the variants that are related to different kinds of motion along the path: factive vs. fictive motion. The term fictive motion refers to the use of directional and dynamic elements to designate situations that are static in the extralinguistic reality (e.g. The highway goes from Paris to Berlin). I distinguish three types of paths; 1) paths of locomotion (actual motion), 2) paths of location (canonical fictive motion expressed by a motion verb), 3) frame-setting paths, which consist of two subtypes: a) paths of occurrence (presence of a multiplicity of entities along the path: There is snow all across the country) and b) paths of process (a process taking place all along the path: It rains across Europe). I argue that the postpositional use of Finnish bipositions is the unmarked way to indicate paths of locomotion and location, whereas their prepositional use is the unmarked way of indicating frame-setting paths. This is because bipositions used as postpositions are more closely associated with the force-dynamic meaning of the verb, which they elaborate, while those used prepositionally set up an independent, setting-like path. This semantic independence typical of the bipositions used as prepositions is probably also the main reason for their predominance in the expression of time: temporal adverbials are in general more independent of the verb than spatial ones.
The Locative Inversion Construction and the Character of thePath
2006
The paper shows that, as opposed to the motion event whose path is encoded by means of the into-directional phrase, a motion event encoded in the to-phrase cannot be taken as a constrastive variant of a motion that is construed as a type of dynamic existence of the entity.
Complementary Syntactical Attributes of Wayfinding
The paper investigated the process of spatial cognition through wayfinding taking into account the distinction between visibility and permeability relations. The study analyzed the Pinacoteca Art Museum in São Paulo by Paulo Mendes da Rocha, whose interior presents several visible but not permeable relations. Whereas permeability relations have been described using axial and convex maps, visual relations have been described using visibility graphs and overlapped isovists. Syntactical attributes of the spatial configuration have been measured, and a new correlation has been proposed. Different paths departing from the entrance have been and analyzed combining syntactical attributes and the visual information for the understanding of the configuration. The study has shown some evidence about the influence of visual information to the intelligibility of spatial configurations, suggesting the need for a methodological differentiation between visibility and permeability relations in wayf...
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.