Relationship between the visuo-spatial cognition and the linguistic domain in Williams syndrome

This study contributes to the analysis of thinking-for-translating in comics. It explores the translation of motion events in five albums of the French comic Asterix and its corresponding translations into Galician and into English. It aims at analysing any differences in the number and the type of motion verbs used across the three languages and the strategies used to translate Manner and Path of motion verbs. With this purpose in mind, the study includes type-token analyses of all motion verbs; it covers the intratypological language pair French > Galician that has not been analysed in the phenomenon of motion events in this genre, as well as the intertypological pair French > English. Finally, while most studies focus on the translation strategies for manner verbs, this study includes the strategies not only of manner but also of path verbs. Findings in the compiled corpus indicated intertypological differences in the translation of path and manner verbs into English. With regard to the strategies used for the translation of both manner and path verbs, it was observed that Manner and Path tend to be retained and intertypological differences were found in the use of omission, replacement and visual compensation strategies in the translation of path verbs.

This study analyzed the overlap of motion lexicon, namely manner and path verbs’ frequency profiles, in English high school textbooks (9th-12th grade) and English university entrance exams (2010-2019) in Turkey through AntwordProfiler, a corpus linguistic tool. The manner verbs were sampled from Levin’s study (1993) while the path verbs were gathered from Talmy’s book (2001). The frequency of motion verbs in official teaching materials was compared with their frequency in exam materials using SPSS. The results indicate that the mismatch of motion verbs between the textbook and exam corpora is statistically significant in terms of manner verb frequency levels (p < .000). While path verbs scored, on average, higher in descriptive statistics in the textbook corpus, there was no statistical significance observed. The findings suggest that whenever the students take English exam, they may be more likely to be under a higher cognitive load and may be forced to develop the negative backwash effect since what is taught is not tested. This, consequently, raises concerns regarding the content validity of exams and other issues related to the reliability and validity of the national English exams. The findings of this study have implications for material developers and test takers.

In this work, not only are different types of motion verbs, such as manner verbs and path verbs, but the embedding relations between motion verbs and text structures are systematically and comprehensively studied, based on Arabic-English parallel narrative texts, within the scope of a contrastive semantic and typological framework. The study is grounded in Talmy’s (2000) prominent motion event typology and Slobin’s (2004) influential “Thinking for Speaking” hypothesis. It systematically considers how these two languages encode and represent the four core semantic components of motion: path, manner, figure, and ground. In English, a satellite-framed language, manner is expressed within the main verb and the path is expressed in prepositional satellites (e.g. ran into). In contrast, as a verb-framed language, Arabic encodes path in the verb and manner elsewhere (or idiomatically) in the clause, as in the expression “دخل راكضاً” “dakhala rākiḍan”.Based on a qualitative analysis of parallel narrative examples from a variety of Arabic and English literary specimens, this study reveals significant typological, cognitive, and stylistic differences. These differences have profound implications for translating practices, second language acquisition methods, and theories of cognitive semantics. These investigations would improve awareness of the ‘varieties of motion in languages, especially among languages. The findings of this study contribute to an enhanced understanding of the distinct motion modes of thought and typologies of linguistic expressions across different cultural and linguistic systems, which is significant for both the area of typology in linguistics and language pedagogy/educators. The statistics presented here are shown in different ways, with examples that are intended to be utilised for direct learning. The content originated from credible sources, such as Google Scholar, Google Books, and other online platforms.

This study investigates the use of the Talmy-Slobin typology of semantic components of motion verbs as applied to Bible translation. Using the Bup Kudus Baru, a new Iban translation, in comparison with a framework formed by the Hebrew original, NRSV representing English translation, and occasionally a Chinese translation, the author demonstrates the key features of verb-framed, satellite-framed, and equipollently-framed languages. The analysis of two Hebrew motion verbs, yāșā’ (path verb) and hālak (manner verb), and their respective Iban translations in Bup Kudus Baru, shows that the Iban language, much like Malay and Urak Lawoi’ from the same language family, is of path-salient nature in principle, but at the same time displays the use of serial verb constructs, a feature of equipollently-framed languages when manner verbs are required. The author concludes with some suggestions of ways to apply the Talmy-Slobin model in Bible translation, from the point of view of translators, translation officers, and their institutions.

The last four decades have seen huge progress in the description and analysis of cross-linguistic diversity in the encoding of motion (Talmy 1985, 1991, Slobin 1996, 2004). Comparisons between satellite-framed and verb-framed languages suggest that satellite-framed languages typically have a larger manner of motion verb lexicon (swim,dash), while verb-framed languages typically have a larger path of motion verb lexicon (enter,cross) (Slobin 2004, Verkerk 2013, 2014b). This paper investigates how differences between the motion verb lexicons of satellite-framed and verb-framed languages emerge. Phylogenetic comparative methods adopted from biology and an etymological study are used to investigate manner verb lexicons and path verb lexicons in an Indo-European dataset. I show that manner verbs and path verbs typically have different types of etymological origins and that manner verbs emerge faster in satellite-framed subgroups, while path verbs emerge faster in verb-framed subgroups.

S. Huang and M. Tanangkingsing found that six Western Austronesian languages share the common property of giving greater attention to path information than to manner. They proposed that Proto-Austronesian was probably path-salient. In order to ascertain the validity of their hypothesis, this study compares the motion events in a Yami Frog story with six Western Austronesian languages, followed by a research design using VARBRUL (a logistic regression analysis program) to analyze the factors that account for the variation between path and manner verbs in 20 Yami texts. In the process, a clear set of operational definitions is proposed. Our quantitative analysis indicates that Yami is a path-salient language in that (i) path verbs are more frequent than manner verbs, (ii) path verbs favor cooccurrence of figure and ground even more than manner verbs, and (iii) manner is usually not expressed after the path verb. If it is expressed, it is coded as a serial verb construction.

Any event includes countless components, giving the learner many possible options in mapping verb meanings. Previous research demonstrates that children are sensitive to the distribution of motion verbs in their language, mapping ambiguous verb-event pairings to manner if their language has more manner verbs, like English, and path if their language has more path verbs, like Spanish. Previous work also demonstrates that children have some sensitivity visual components, such an event’s location, when they are learning motion verbs. Our study explores how the learner weighs components of visual scene against the distributional factors present in their language. Like previous studies, we find that English-learning children are better at encoding manner than path information. Additionally, we build on previous work on motion verb acquisition, showing that children are differentially influenced by different kinds of background environments.

This study investigated how Talmy’s typological framework and Slobin’s (1996) ‘thinking for speaking’ hypothesis affect Korean-English bilinguals’ verbal expression of the motion events in L1 and L2. Based on the cross-linguistic differences in conflation of motion between English and Korean, this study determines whether and how monolingual English speakers and bilinguals (Korean L1, English L2) who reside in the USA differ in the lexicalization of motion events in L1 and L2. The bilingual speakers differed in length of residence (LoR) in the L2 environment: bilingual speakers with relatively longer LoR were categorized as high-proficiency; those with shorter LoR as low-proficiency. Materials were video animation clips that depict goal-oriented motion events; participants were asked to describe verbally what had happened in each animation. English monolinguals produced more manner verbs than path verbs in English, whereas Korean-English bilinguals (both long and short LoR) produced more path verbs than manner verbs in Korean. The event conceptualization patterns of their L1 Korean remained intact regardless of their L2 proficiency. However, bilinguals with long LoR successfully switched toward the patterns of English monolinguals, whereas bilinguals with short LoR did not; this result shows an L1 transfer effect. Typological differences between L1 and L2 instantiated in thinking for speaking in bilingualism is discussed as a function of different LoR of bilingual speakers.

Chapter 2 provides an introduction to the motion encoding typology as proposed by Talmy, Slobin, and others (manner- and path-conflating languages, different types of framing and their concomitant characteristics). It argues that this typology is highly compatible with a construction grammar framework, points out the differences, and shows that particularly from the diachronic perspective taken in this study, the constructionist approach has advantages over the originally lexicalist approach of the motion typology. The chapter also provides a discussion of the different categories of motion verbs used in this study (manner verbs, path verbs, neutral motion verbs, and verbs that do not evoke a motion event on their own, but can receive a contextual motion reading).

Since Latin and medieval French are the contact languages from which the path verbs analysed in chapter 9 are borrowed, this chapter summarizes earlier research on Latin and medieval French in the motion verb typology and offers a case study on motion expression in the prose parts of the Old French Aucassin et Nicolette. It is shown that while medieval French can be called satellite-framing with respect to the structures used to talk about motion, which typically feature satellites (though less often in the form of adverbs than in medieval English), the use of path verbs is considerably higher than of manner verbs, and manner verbs are less frequently combined with satellites than are other motion verbs. This is related to narrative styles typical of medieval French romances and epics.

Spanish and Mandarin Chinese have been classified as verb-framed language and satellite-framed language respectively (Talmy: 1991, 2000). However, in Spanish, manner verbs are compatible with hacia and hasta, and a small group of them can do so with a. The typological discussion on Mandarin Chinese focuses on the serial verb construction of “manner verb + path word”, in which the second constituent lacking morphological variation can also function independently as path verb. To try to shed light on these discussions, we propose that the core scheme —the directional path— of the motion event is generated through the interaction between the verb and the preposition, in which the manner verb with external movement implies a non- directional path which plays a primary role, while the preposition and the second constituent of the Chinese serial verb construction are only direction indicators that do not contribute any path. The analysis of the combinatory between manner verbs and hacia, hasta, a, as well as their equivalent Chinese expressions, support our hypothesis and they let conclude that: a is locative; Chinese serial verb construction belongs to the satellite-framed language type; the extensive value of hasta does not favor the generation of the directional path, but that of its Chinese equivalent can do so.

In-depth analysis of spatial cognition in Williams syndrome: A critical assessment of the role of the LIMK1 gene

This study investigated the motion event language children and their parents engaged in while playing a board game. Children are sensitive to differences in manner and path at infancy, yet adult-like motion event expression appears relatively late in development. While multiple studies have examined how exposure to parent speech generally relates to very young children’s language, none looks at motion event language and learning in 3- to 7-year-olds. This study aimed to examine the opportunities for children to learn motion event language through engaging with their parents, using a constructivist view of language learning. Parent–child conversation of Spanish-speaking (21) and English-speaking (24) families was examined for lexical and syntactic differences in motion event expressions. Results demonstrated English-speaking parents used more manner verbs and Spanish-speaking parents used more specific path verbs. English-speaking parents also used more general path verbs than did Spanish speakers. These differences mapped onto children’s production of motion event language. Parental speech may provide the potential for children to gradually learn about motion event language typology.

Chapter 10 offers a general conclusion of the findings of the book: Old and Middle English are strongly satellite-framing languages, whose intransitive motion construction can also accommodate verbs which inherently do not evoke a meaning of motion. The size of the manner verb lexicon in medieval English, as well as the use of manner verbs in the texts analysed, point to a similar degree of manner salience as in Present-Day English. The path verbs from French and Latin are shown to be borrowed initially not for expressing general literal motion events, but mostly in abstract or manner-enriched uses more peripheral to their meaning in the donor languages. The study also points out effects of the intertypological contact situation with Middle English on motion verb use in Anglo-Norman. Potential further effects yet to be investigated are suggested in this chapter.

ABSTRACTThe typological contrast between verb‐ and satellite‐framed languages (Talmy, 1985) has set the basis for many empirical studies on L2 acquisition. The current analysis goes beyond this typology by looking in detail at the conceptualization of the path of motion in a motion event. We take as a starting point the cognitive salience of specific elements of motion events that are relevant when conceptualizing space. When expressing direction in French, specific spatial relations involving the entity in motion (its alignment and its distance toward a [potential] endpoint) are relevant, given a variety of path verbs in the lexicon expressing this information (e.g., se diriger vers, avancer ‘to direct oneself toward,’ ‘to advance’). This is not the case in German (manner verbs in the lexicon mainly). In German, spatial information is packaged in adjuncts and particles and the path of motion is typically structured via features of the ground (entlanglaufen/fahren ‘to walk/drive along’) or endpoints (‘to walk/drive to/toward’). We investigate those fundamental differences in spatial conceptualization in French and German, as reflected in pre‐articulatory patterns of attention allocation (measured with eye tracking) to moving entities and endpoints in motion scenes in an event description task. Our focus is on spatial conceptualization in an L2 (French L2 users of German), analyzing the extent to which these L2 users display target‐like patterns or traces of L1 conceptualization transfer.Findings show that, in line with directional concepts expressed in verbs, L1 French speakers allocate more attention to entities in motion and endpoints, before utterance onset, than L1 German speakers do. The L2 German speakers pattern with L1 German speakers in the use of manner verbs, but they have not fully acquired the spatial concepts and means that structure the path of motion in the L2. This is reflected in pre‐articulatory attention allocation patterns, according to which the L2 speakers pattern with native speakers of their L1 (French). The findings show a continued deep entrenchment of L1‐based processing patterns and spatial frames of reference when speakers prepare for speech in an L2.