Abstract
AbstractIn many languages, it is possible to describe the location of any entity with respect to a landmark object without specifying the exact place that the locatum occupies (e.g. Englishatinat home). Such vocabulary items usually contrast with items that belong to the same categories but have more restricted senses (e.g.on top ofinon top of the shelf). Thus, the degree of “abstractness” that such spatial case markers can convey usually depends on the organization of the lexicon and grammar of spatial terms in each language. The goal of this paper is to explore these properties across a small sample of languages and offer an account of this variation that is connected to previous theories of spatial case markers (e.g. adpositions). Our key proposal is that the morpho-syntactic structure of spatial case markers and their phrases can license a clear division of labour between functional and lexical spatial senses. However, intermediate solutions blurring categories and semantic boundaries are shown to be possible. We formalize this proposal via a fragment of Lexical Syntax, and show that degrees of distinction between ‘functional’ and ‘lexical’ sense types and categories can be modelled via a unified account.
Highlights
Adpositions and case affixes covering spatial senses, or spatial case markers, have recently received renewed attention (Asbury 2008; Cinque and Rizzi 2010; Dryer 2013a; Hagége 2010; Levinson 2003)
We propose that divergences from this isomorphic mapping stem from the division of labour between grammar and lexicon of spatial case markers
We find that the use of this other pair of labels may be more intuitively appealing
Summary
Adpositions and case affixes covering spatial senses, or spatial case markers, have recently received renewed attention (Asbury 2008; Cinque and Rizzi 2010; Dryer 2013a; Hagége 2010; Levinson 2003). The study of these categories has often involved the formulation of “grammars of space” outlining their properties within a language (Levinson and Wilkins 2006). Morphological and (semantic) sense complexity usually dovetail (Lestrade 2010) These relations seem to determine how the grammars and “lexica” of space are organized and interact (Levinson and Meira 2003: 489)
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