Bejalai in Iban: A Study on Translating Motion Verbs in Bup Kudus Baru

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 influence of language-specific and universal factors on acquisition of motion verbs

This study explores children’s encoding of novel verbs referring to motion events, and finds influence of both language-specific and universal constraints on meaning. Motion verbs fall into two categories—manner verbs encode how a movement happens (run, swim), and path verbs encode the starting and ending point of a motion (enter, fall). Some languages express path more frequently in the verb (Spanish, Hebrew), and others manner more frequently (English, German). Our study expands on this previous work demonstrating sensitivity to these language-specific distributions, as well as expanding to test environmental factors representing a predictable universal distribution. We find that children are sensitive to both the language-specific factors as well as the universal factors in motion verb acquisition.

Motion Verbs in Japanese

Japanese is a language rich in verbs representing Path of motion, but it also has verbs representing Manner and Deixis. Examining how they are used can deepen our understanding of some of the interesting properties of the Japanese language. In typological literature on motion events descriptions, Japanese has been claimed to be the type of language in which Path is expressed in the main verb position rather than elsewhere in the sentence, with the use of a path verb. However, this view must be qualified in two ways. First, the language exhibits intralinguistic variation, using postpositions and other nonverbal elements to represent Path notions such as FROM, TO, and ALONG. Second, Path is expressed in the main verb position only when Deixis is absent from the sentence. One feature of manner verbs in Japanese is that they are not used very often, especially concerning walking events. This phenomenon is accounted for by the “cost” of expressing Manner in Japanese. Another property of manner verbs in Japanese is they are incompatible with a goal phrase, which has been previously accounted for in different ways. A close semantic examination of manner verbs suggests that this restriction can be attributed to the nature of goal marking, rather than the semantics of manner verbs. An examination of corpus and experimental data also reveals how Japanese speakers use deictic verbs. Deictic motion verbs are used very frequently, though this tendency is not observed in descriptions of the motion of inanimate entities. Finally, deictic verbs in Japanese are sensitive to the notion of the speaker’s interactional space or territory, not just restricted by the spatial location of the speaker.

Dansk med måde

The purpose of this paper is to show that the use of manner verbs differs systematically between Danish and Spanish, and that this factor exercises a decisive influence on their clause formation and distribution of semantic content across linguistic units. It is argued that in Danish, due to its strong preference for using manner verbs as main predicates, the semantic component manner becomes the core information which frames the expression of the event, while in Spanish the manner in which an event evolves is usually not mediated linguistically as a central component of the clause, if expressed at all. Consequently, speakers of Danish focus on events as visual manifestations of reality, while speakers of Spanish are not attuned to conceptualizing events visually.

The roles of language mode and dominance in French–German bilinguals’ motion event descriptions

Juggling with structurally and semantically different language systems leads to constructions that differ from the typical patterns in a language. Typical patterns in the domain of motion are characterized by more verbs encoding path in French; and more verbs encoding the manner of motion in German. An increase of manner verbs in French, for instance, can be ascribed to an influence from German. The extent of typical or reversed patterns depends on interrelated factors such as speaker-related idiosyncrasies, language dominance configurations, and – arguably – the degree of language activation. Drawing on data from 154 French–German bilinguals who described motion events in different language modes, this paper combines interrelated questions on the role of language dominance, language mode manipulation and how these factors interact. Quantitative analyses on the use of motion verbs do not show the expected effects. The null results are discussed by comparing preceding studies showing contradictory findings.

The Persistence of L1 Patterns in SLA: the Boundary Crossing Constraint and Incidental Learning

Based on the theoretical framework of Talmy (1985 et passim) and Slobin (1987 et passim) the present study analyses the influence of L1 patterns on the description of motion events with boundary crossings. Arab speakers avoid the use of manner of motion verbs in the description of these events and use simple path verbs (e.g. enter, go etc.), whereas speakers of English mostly use manner verbs (run, crawl etc.). These deeply engrained differences between L1 and L2 are a learning challenge in SLA. We analyse the use of manner verbs by an intermediate and an advanced group of Arab EFL learners, who live in the UK. Most learners either avoid the description or use path verbs as in Arabic. As the learners do not produce ungrammatical sentences, they will not receive negative feedback (e.g. from a teacher) and rely entirely on incidental learning from the input. However, despite the high frequency of these manner verbs in the daily input of the learners, they do not acquire the patterns of the target language even at a high proficiency level. Implicit learning in this context is hardly possible and explicit teaching and learning is needed to overcome the influence of the first language.

The elasticity of verb meaning revisited

This paper investigates the source of systematic argument realization differences among two classes of manner verbs, hitting and wiping verbs. Its starting point is the hypothesis that argument realization patterns can largely be attributed to grammatical constraints on argument expression interacting with grammatically privileged properties of a verb's root. These properties include the root's ontological category and, as argued here, whether it encodes contact at a point or a region.

Theoretical framework

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).

Latin and medieval French in the motion verb typology

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.