Foto: University of Colorado Boulder

Abstract:

Semantic and syntactic properties of motion verbs: A non-conventional analysis

Most current approaches to syntax and the lexicon assume autonomy of the lexicon, viz. that it is an independent component whose syntactic properties are to some degree determined by semantic properties but are not determined by the syntactic structures of the language. The present study proposes a radically different relationship between the syntax, semantics, and the lexicon. In this talk I demonstrate that the semantic structure of the language and the functions coded in the locative complement in Mupun (West Chadic) determine the semantic and syntactic properties of verbs of motion and motivate the very existence of some of these verbs.
Properties of verbs of motion are thus not an independent component of language: They are not dependent on the non-linguistic experiences of the speakers, nor do they receive their meanings from the structure of the utterance as postulated in Construction Grammar.

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