Expressing manner and path in English and Turkish: Differences in speech, gesture, and conceptualization

Abstract

This study investigates how speakers of typologically different languages, Turkish (verb-framed) and English (satellite-framed) express motion events in their speech and accompanying gestures .14 English and 16 Turkish speakers narrated an animated cartoon and one motion event scene was selected for analysis. English speakers depicted this scene with one verb with a satellite “the cat rolls down”, combining manner and path of the motion in one clause. Whereas Turkish speakers used two verbal clauses (e.g., yuvarlanarak iniyor (rolling descends)), separating manner from path. Gestures showed a similar pattern. Turkish speakers compared to English were more likely to use a) pure rotation gestures (representing manner only) and b) pure trajectory gestures (representing path only). These findings support the claim that speakers of typologically different languages conceptualize motion events in different ways during on-line speaking. While more Turkish speakers represent two components of a motion event as separate, English speakers represent them as one unit.