eprintid: 32751
rev_number: 13
eprint_status: archive
userid: 5878
dir: disk0/00/03/27/51
datestamp: 2023-01-23 08:27:12
lastmod: 2023-01-23 17:49:29
status_changed: 2023-01-23 08:27:12
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Stutterheim, Christiane von
creators_name: Gerwien, Johannes
creators_name: Bouhaous, Abassia
creators_name: Carroll, Mary
creators_name: Lambert, Monique
title: What makes up a reportable event in a language? Motion events as an important test domain in linguistic typology
subjects: ddc-400
divisions: i-90600
divisions: i-999999
keywords: event segmentation, unit formation, typological analysis, motion events, temporal aspect
note: Dieser Beitrag ist aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. *** This publication is freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
abstract: Numerous crosslinguistic studies on motion events have been carried out in investigating the scope of the two-fold typology “path versus manner” (Talmy 1985, 2000) and its possible implications. This typological contrast is too narrow as it stands, however, to account for the diversity found both within and across types. The present study is based on what can be termed a process-oriented perspective. It includes the analyses of all relevant conceptual domains notably the domain of temporality, in addition to space, and thus goes beyond previous studies. The languages studied differ typologically as follows: path is typically expressed in the verb in French and Tunisian Arabic in contrast to manner of motion in English and German, while in the temporal domain aspect is expressed grammatically in English and Tunisian Arabic but not in German and French. The study compares the representations which speakers construct when forming a reportable event as a response to video clips showing a series of naturalistic scenes in which an entity moves through space. The analysis includes the following conceptual categories: (1) the privileged event layer (manner vs. path) which drives the selection of breakpoints in the formation of event units when processing the visual input; (2) the privileged category in spatial framing (figure-based/groundbased) and (3) viewpoint aspect (phasal decomposition or not). We assume that each of these three cognitive categories is shaped specifically by language structure (both system and repertoire) and language use (frequency of constructions). The findings reveal systematic differences both across, as well as within, typologically related languages with respect to (1) the basic event type encoded, (2) the changes in quality expressed, (3) the total number of path segments encoded per situation, and (4) the number of path segments packaged into one utterance. The findings reveal what can be termed language-specific default settings along each of the conceptual dimensions and their interrelations which function as language specific attentional templates.
date: 2020
publisher: Mouton de Gruyter
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00032751
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0212
ppn_swb: 183186603X
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-327514
language: eng
bibsort: VONSTUTTERWHATMAKESU2020
full_text_status: public
publication: Linguistics
volume: 58
number: 6
place_of_pub: Berlin [u.a.]
pagerange: 1659-1700
issn: 0024-3949 (Druck-Ausg.); 1613-396X (Online-Ausg.)
edition: Zwei
citation:   Stutterheim, Christiane von ; Gerwien, Johannes ; Bouhaous, Abassia ; Carroll, Mary ; Lambert, Monique  (2020) What makes up a reportable event in a language? Motion events as an important test domain in linguistic typology.  Linguistics, 58 (6).  pp. 1659-1700.  ISSN 0024-3949 (Druck-Ausg.); 1613-396X (Online-Ausg.)     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/32751/1/10.1515_ling-2020-0212.pdf