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Ways of looking: Lexicalizing visual paths in verbs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2021

EWELINA WNUK Open the ORCID record for EWELINA WNUK [Opens in a new window]
EWELINA WNUK*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton St., LondonWC1H 0BW, [email protected]
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Abstract

The packaging of meaning in verbs varies widely across languages since verbs are free to encode different aspects of an event. At the same time, languages tend to display recurrent preferences in lexicalization, e.g. verb-framing vs. satellite-framing in motion. It has been noted, however, that the lexicalization patterns in motion are not carried over to the domain of vision, since gaze trajectory (‘visual path’) is coded outside the main verb even in verb-framed languages. This ‘typological split’ (Matsumoto 2001), however, is not universal. This article contains the first extensive report of verb-framing in the domain of vision based on data from Maniq (Austroasiatic, Thailand). The verbs are investigated using a translation questionnaire and a picture-naming task, which tap into subtle semantic detail. Results suggest the meanings of the verbs are shaped by universal constraints linked to earth-based verticality and bodily mechanics, as well as local factors such as the environment and the cultural scenarios of which looking is a salient part. A broader look across the whole Maniq verb lexicon reveals further cases of verbally encoded spatial notions and demonstrates a pervasive cross-domain systematicity, pointing to the language system itself as an important shaping force in lexicalization.

Keywords

fictive motionlexicalization patternpathsystematicityverbs of perceptionverb semantics
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 157 - 202
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I am grateful to the Maniq community of Manang (Satun) and the National Research Council of Thailand. I thank Asifa Majid, Stephen Levinson, Niclas Burenhult, Lila San Roque, Carolyn O’Meara, Rebecca Defina, Josje de Valk, and three anonymous Journal of Linguistics reviewers for comments, Elisabeth Norcliffe for stimulating discussions, and Kukiat Tudpor for Thai translations. This research was supported by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

Interlinear and in-text glosses follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules wherever possible, with the sole exception of mult ‘multiplicity (iterative/distributive)’.

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