Chapter published in:
Broader Perspectives on Motion Event Descriptions
Edited by Yo Matsumoto and Kazuhiro Kawachi
[Human Cognitive Processing 69] 2020
► pp. 281–316

Neutral and specialized path coding

Toward a new typology of path-coding devices and languages

| National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics
The purpose of this chapter is to present a new typology of path coding used in motion event descriptions in various languages. The crucial starting point for the new typology is how Path is expressed across different constructional types of motion event representations. The constructional types considered are Self-motion, Caused motion, and Emanation. The study suggests that path-coding devices can be divided into two major kinds: one kind with broad distributional potential across different constructional types of representations, and the other specialized for a particular constructional type of representation. Languages tend to have preferences toward adopting which kind of path-coding device is predominantly used. Languages that utilize the former can be called neutral path-coding languages, and those utilizing the latter, specialized path-coding languages. Path and Deixis coding in several languages are examined in these terms. Some patterns of intralinguistic and interlinguistic variations are also discussed.
Keywords: caused motion, deixis, representation type, self-motion, visual emanation
Published online: 11 August 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.69.09mat
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