Path-expressing constructions: Toward a typology

Abstract

AbstractThis paper discusses Talmy’s typology of motion events and provides an outline of our own approach. In the first part, we present Talmy’s typology, its origin and evolution, the various objections which have been raised against it, and some data which, in current typological work, have been recognized marginally or not at all. In the second part, we describe our own approach, with a double goal in sight: first, of overcoming the difficulties met by current proposals, and, next, of providing an inventory of constructions used in the encoding of path. This inventory is given in an appendix.