A Cognitive Study On The Expression Of Motion Events

As motion refers to the location change of an entity with respect to anotherreference object, motion events therefore refer to the space-shifting movement of aFigure from a source locationto a target destination. There has been an increasinginterest in the research of motion events because they can reveal the mechanisms usedby language speakers for coding into language their experiences. The previous studiesin this area are mainly focusing on two aspects---how motion events are expressedand how verbs are lexicalized in motion events---with little attention how varioussemantic components of the motion events are conflated into syntax. Hence, thecurrent study explores the principles governing the syntagmatic configuration of thesemantic components, with the aim of providing new perspectives on this researcharea. The following points describe this study’s research steps, methodology, andunique contributions to the field.1. Obtain a concept of the "motion event" by starting with concept. Throughanalysis of the formal characteristics and conceptual manifestations of motion events,we establish the true quality of the motion elements and maintain that self-movementand passive-movement should be distinguished on a formal basis, whereas intentionaland unintentionalmovements should be distinguished on a conceptual basis.2. Obtain the fundamental components of the event by analyzing thestructural components of each motion event. The analysis of the conceptualstructure of motion events helps us discover the fundamental components of an event.We also re-define "path" as the spatial trace left by a moving figure in its change oflocation.3. Analyze the surface coding characteristics of the components. Byanalyzing the surface coding characteristics of the components, we find that:1) theorganization of Figure and Ground is governed by "movability scale" and theirsyntactic positions are flexible;2) the motion verb encodes not only "motion" and"path", but also "manner","direction’,"speed","medium","figure" and "instrument";3) the category of "manner verb" contains5aspects:(i) force of motion,(ii) speed of motion,(iii) means of motion,(iv) behavior of motion, and (v) figure.(The adverbsencode the characteristics of both motion and figure; the former includes speed, mode,range and situation, while the latter includes quantity, facial expression, mindset,posture andpace.);4) the coding of Path is done by verb, preposition andframe-construction. There are three ways for Path to be coded by a verb: pure pathverb, conflated path verb, conflated path verb, which is in the position of acomplement."Preposition construction+motion verb" can also express a motion event;frame-construction like "preposition+source+pathway+destination" can express astatic path. There are three ways for frame-construction to express a dynamic path:"conflated path verb+location","conflated path verb+quantity","(ba/jiang)……+caused verb+dao/zai/gei……"(take/give something tosomewhere/someone).5)Verbs coding cause, such as "bai"(put) and "gua"(hang),have their motivations coded in the verbs themselves;"ba","jiang" and "shi" codecause with utterance-like elements.4. Analyze the two most basic and necessary components of motion events:’’motion" and "path"."Motion" and "path" are the two most basic and necessarycomponents of motionevents. There are no motion events without "motion" and"path", while other components are optional depending on the specificityrequirements. The expression of motion events is a process of interaction andcooperation between "motion" and "path".5. Results of Analysis:“Motion” is the syntactic core of motion events, while“path” is their semantic core. The paper claims that "motion" is the syntactic core ofmotion events, and "path" is the "semantic core". Accordingly, for the core ofcontroversial "verb-complement"constructions, such as "core is on the left, core is onthe right, double core, no core," the paper argues that the verb is the syntactic core andthe complement should be the semantic core. The expression of motion events is alsothe interaction and cooperation between the syntactic core and the semantic core.6. Analyze the mode of combination for the conceptual elements in a motionevent. If we take "motion" and "path" as one element in the combination withoutconsidering the combination sequence, there are16kinds of combinations. Startingwith an investigation of the self-built corpus, we analyze the characteristics of each combination. For example, taking the coexistence of the simplest essentialcombination "motion+path" as our foundation, when "cause" coexists with "manner",usually the adverbial phrase codes "manner" and the verb phrase codes "cause";"manner/cause" must appear in front of "motion+path"; the "background" cannot beput between "cause" and "motion+path." With respect to the coexistence of"figure+background+manner", which is a much more flexible combination, thefrequency of figure appearing in front of background is higher than the frequency ofbackground appearing infront of figure, the frequency of figure that is closely linkedwith background is higher than the frequency of figure that is separated withbackground. When all6elements are in the combination, usually the sequence is"manner+cause+motion+path".7. Analyze the levels of conceptual elements in combination modes for eachmotionevent. Based on the simplest essential combination, frequency of figure is thehighest; manner is also easily perceived and is the second; background is the third. Incaused motion events, cause is much more important than manner; the frequency ofcoexistence of "figure+background+manner" is low; and the coexistence of"manner+figure" is much lower; and the coexistence of "background+manner+cause"is the lowest.8. Analyze the level of each conceptual element in the expression of themotion event. The level of each conceptual element in the expression of the motionevent appears in the following order: cause<manner<background<figure<motion/path.By analyzing the frequency of motion and path, we prove that both are indispensablein motion events; figure is also highlighted and second only to motion and path;background is slightly inferior to figure; manneris more highlighted than cause.9. Analyze the interaction and cooperation between "motion" and "path"and between the "syntactic core" and the "semantic core" of the expression of amotion event. Such analysis reveals the following points:1) The simplest method ofcooperation is conflating "motion" and "path" into one verb：（1）The first way usespure path verbs, such as "lai"(come) and "qu"(go);（2）The second way uses conflatedpath verbs, such as "zou"(walk) and "pao"(run).2) The second method of cooperation between "motion" and "path" is to provide each element one verb:(3) The third wayuses "conflated path verb+pure path verb", such as "zou jin"(move in) and "paochu"(run out);(4)The fourth way uses "causedverb+pure path verb", such as "najin"(take in) and "ban chu"(move out);(5)The fifth way uses "caused verb+conflatedpath verb", such as "na zou"(take away) and "da pao"(fight away).3)The third methodof cooperation between "motion" and "path" is to use a framing construction made upof a conflated path verb and other elements with motion verbs still expressing theconcept of "motion":（6）The sixth way："conflated path verb+quantifiers", such as"zou san quan"(walkthree times around) and "pao100mi"(run100meters);（7）Theseventh way："conflated pathverb+location phrase", such as "fei Beijing"(fly toBeijing) and "pao Guangzhou"(run to Guangzhou);（8）The eighth way："causedverb+location phrase", such as "na jiali"(bringhome) and "ban jiaoshi"(move toclassroom);（9）The ninth way："conflated pathverb+preposition phrase/prepositionphrase+conflated path verb", such as "cong Guangzhouchufa"(depart fromGuangzhou) and "pao xiang Beijing"(run to Peking);（10）The tenthway：framingconstruction which is "(ba/jiang)……+caused verb+dao/zai/gei……"(take/givesomething to somewhere/someone).10. Case study analysis of mutual constraints among motion event conceptsat the syntactic level.1）"lai"(come) and "qu"(go). When the syntactic position ismore marginalized, itis more grammaticalized, and the simpler the motion concept will be."lai/qu" havethree motion concepts patterns which have constraints to the other syntacticcomponents. When "lai/qu " act independently as the predicatein motion eventexpressions, they are "syntactic core" as well as "semantic core". With the addition of"manner","motion" and "path" are not combined into one word expressions, and the"syntactic core" and "semantic core" do not simultaneously overlap. With the additionof more accurate "path" information,"lai/qu" are only responsible for informationabout "direction". The expression of the "syntactic core" remains unchanged, but thesemantic core has been changed. The differences among the three concepts of "lai/qu"are the result of cooperation between "motion" and "path" and between the "syntactic core" and "semantic core".2)"Shang"(up) and "xia"(down). Under the theory of conversion oftemporal-spatial and motion event, the syntactic-semantic correspondencecharacteristic of "shang/xia+X" and "X+shang/xia" can have a unified explanation.There are two ways for noun "shang/xia" to represent spatial relations: one is the"shang/xia+N" format which represents the internal space of an image, by dividingthem into two parts relatively; the other one is "N+shang/xia" format which representsthe external space of the image, as all that is on the surface of the image or above itand on the surface of the image or below can be represented by "N+shang" or"N+xia" correspondingly. The path verb "shang" and "xia" have four ways to expressmotion events: format A--"shang/xia+N","shang/xia" are the notional verbs called"motion verb", N is the destination of the motion; format B--"shang/xia+V", thesyntactic core is V, the semantic core is "shang/xia", and they canexpress perfectiveaspect motion event; format C--"V+shang/xia","V+shang" express "reaching","V+xia" express "removing or reaching"; both express an imperfective aspect; formatD--"A+shang/xia","A+shang" expresses motion from a low quantity to a highquantity, from static to dynamic;"A+xia" is the opposite.3) Jin(come in), chu(go out), tui(retreat). There are three ways for "jin/chu/tui" toexpress motion events. Ⅰ"Jin/chu/tui" serve as predicate verbs and undertake themotion event expression independently. Ⅱ "Jin/chu/tui+V" express imperfectivemotion events. Ⅲ "V+jin/chu/tui" express perfectivemotion events. When"Jin/chu/tui" work together with V to express motion events, there may be three kindsof combination modes about the conceptual elements of motion. These are the threemodes which create controversy over the types of construction, core, andlexicalization.zou jin/chu construction type corelexicalizationtypetype 4）A comparative analysis of syntactic&semantic constraints between conflatedverb "zou"(walk) and pure path verb "qu"(go) follows. Both structures "V zou" and"V qu" indicate [+leave][+motion]; all the verbs in the two structures have thecharacteristic of [+movement][+motion],"V zou" highlights the semantic features of[+leave][+motion][+movement][-target],"V qu1" has the semantic features of[+leave][+motion][-movement][-target],"V qu2" highlights the semantic features of[+leave][+motion][+movement][+target]. The movement which is the shortest is in "Vqu1", which has "no movement" and "no target", thus having the lowest restrictionson syntactic&semantics."V zou" has "movement" but "no target", so it has morehighly restrictive conditions;"V qu2" has the longest movement and has both"movement" and "target", so it has the highest restriction on syntactic&semantics."V qu1" means to dispose,"V qu2" means "to give"; between these two is "V zou",which means "to give up/to get".5）A comparative analysis of syntactic&semantic constraints between pure pathverbs "lai"(come) and "dao"(reach) follows. The substitution between "V lai" and "Vdao" depends on eight factors：the standing of the speaker; the direction of motion; theopposition of [+direction] and [+destination]; both indicating motion; whether theobject moves or not; whether [+time] and [+degree] can be expressed or not;summary scanning or sequential scanning; highlight [+process] or [+result]. Thestructures "V lai" and "V dao" both indicate motion; the differences are as follows:structure "V lai" highlights the semantic feature of[+standing][+direction][+target][+object motion][+process], which holds thecognitive motivation called "summary scanning"; while structure "V dao" highlightsthe semantic feature of [-standing][-direction][+termination][-object motion][+result],and at the same time holds the cognitive motivation called "sequential scanning"."V dao", with little restriction, is a highly grammaticalized and highly subjunctivestructure which can describe time and degree.