Abstract
Talmy’s cognitive-semantic typology divides languages based on how path and manner of motion are generally encoded, but recently some studies have suggested that the original typology needs re-examining either by adding a new type (e.g., Slobin, 2004) or using a cline rather than a two or three-language division (e.g., Ibarretxe-Antou?ano, 2009). Furthermore, Matsumoto (2003) has suggested that Talmy’s original typology should be founded on the heading of a language, rather than the original terms of satellite and verb. This study observes Persian motion events through this concept to help determine if an intermediate language can neatly fit into a single category when analyzed based on heading, or whether a new cline based on heading should be considered. We compared data from a translation corpus of the short story “A Christmas Carol” using a representative verb-framed and satellite-framed language (i.e., Japanese and English), and found that Persian shares some path encoding tendencies with both English and Japanese, but also has significant differences, which suggest it could perhaps be better described as fitting on a cline of path-salience, rather than simply placed in either category.
Highlights
Talmy (1985) noted that when linguistically expressing a complex event, two or more simple events are often conceptually combined and encoded into a single macro-event—a phenomenon which he called event conflation
We examine the motion events focusing on the main-event, following Ibarretxe-Antouñano (2009), comparing Persian with English and Japanese in order to examine the position of the Persian language and determine if it can neatly fit in a category or provides evidence for the necessity of a cline
While the data of this study supports the notion that Japanese can be safely considered a verb-framed language, it seems that both English and Persian translations were significantly different, and should not be classified as verb-framed
Summary
Talmy (1985) noted that when linguistically expressing a complex event, two or more simple events are often conceptually combined and encoded into a single macro-event—a phenomenon which he called event conflation. According to Talmy’s primary studies, the world’s languages can be divided into two categories based on which event, the path or manner of motion, is encoded on the main verb. He called languages that encode path on verb roots “verb-framed languages” and languages that encode path on non-verbal elements “satellite-framed languages”
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