Verb framing

This research asked whether speakers are influenced by systematic semantic patterns in their language in forming new word meanings. We used the novel word mapping technique (Nagy and Gentner 1990) to test whether English and Spanish speakers would show effects of their differing semantic systems in inferring the meanings of novel motion verbs. We also tested for any language-specific effects in inferring novel nouns. Participants were given short passages containing either a novel noun or a novel motion verb, and were asked to infer the meaning of the novel word. The passages provided information about both the path and the manner of a novel motion event. Consistent with the semantic patterns in the respective languages, English speakers were more likely to infer a manner interpretation than a path interpretation and Spanish speakers showed the reverse pattern. Language-specific effects were not found for the meanings inferred for novel nouns.

This study aimed to investigate patterns of encoding motion events in the sentences of „Reading Comprehension‟ sections of English textbooks that are taught in Iranian guidance schools and high schools. To achieve this objective, all sentences that described motion events were collected from textbooks. These sentences were examined on the basis of two factors: 1) The encoding of Figure, Manner, Path, Source, Goal, Cause, and Ground; 2) Metaphorical description of non-motion events in terms of motion events. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that sentences of these books are the simplified versions of typical English sentences that are used to describe motion events. In other words, these sentences minimize the details of motion events and do not offer a complete picture of such events. Regarding the use of metaphors to describe non-motion events in terms of motion events, the obtained results showed that metaphors are underused in English textbooks that are taught in I...

In this paper, we present the purpose of this study on lexicalization patterns of semantic and spatial components into manner motion verbs (linguistic elements) in Vietnamese from the cognitive perspectives. This study was conducted on the traditional foundation of Talmy’s (1985) lexicalization patterns. This theory is involved in the way experience rendered into languages via the semantic content of lexical items to express experiential categories. The data derived from the analysis of the writings of 50 students in grade 12 and 50 students in grade 6 about the picture story Frog where you are by Mayer (2003). Results of the research provide insights into how Vietnamese speakers express the experience of motion into their language. These results suggest that there are considerable differences between Vietnamese and some other languages in the accounts of motion events.

Native speakers of different languages may conflate reality in different ways. One of the most illustrative examples of this idea is movement and the divergences in its lexicalization on the part of the native speakers of English and Spanish. The present study focuses on the lexicalization of motion events in the learners' interlanguage. We compare the use of Path and Manner verbs in two groups of native speakers of Spanish studying English at elementary and advanced levels. The way movement was conflated by the advanced group was reasonably close to the English way, whereas the elementary group was still far from the English lexicalization of movement. These results support the languagebased theories on cognition as they show that differences of L2 proficiency may have an influence in the way motion is lexicalized in the L2.

In this article we compare the semantic composition of locative and motion event
descriptions in two genetically unrelated and typologically distinct Mesoamerican
languages: Yucatec Maya (Yucateco) and Juchitán Zapotec (Juchiteco). Our analysis is
based on data collected in the field with a variety of non-verbal stimuli. The data we
present show that locative and path (or location change) information is encoded only in
the verb in these languages, and not in the Ground phrase. Yucateco and Juchiteco thus
represent a more radical type of verb-framing (Talmy 2000) than has been attested to
date. In Yucateco, the Ground phrase expresses a PLACE function in the sense of
Jackendoff (1983), while in Juchiteco it expresses object part information only,
i.e., a THING function.

This research asked whether speakers are influenced by systematic semantic patterns in their language in forming new word meanings. We used the novel word mapping technique to test whether English and Spanish speakers would show effects of their differing semantic systems in inferring the meanings of novel motion verbs. We also tested for any language-specific effects in inferring novel nouns. Participants were given short passages containing either a novel noun or a novel motion verb, and were asked to infer the meaning of the novel word. The passages provided information about both the path and the manner of a novel motion event. Consistent with the semantic patterns in the respective languages, English speakers were more likely to infer a manner interpretation than a path interpretation and Spanish speakers showed the reverse pattern. Language-specific effects were not found for the meanings inferred for novel nouns.