Forschungsprojekt ::

Motion verbs and the intransitive motion construction in the history of English

Projektbeschreibung

This project is based on the typological classification of English as a satellite-framed language (Talmy 2000), i.e. a language that can use a plethora of verbs lexicalizing the manner of motion, while it typically encodes the direction or path of motion outside the verb (cf. The bee buzzes out of the window, The bottle floated into the cave). From a construction grammar perspective, the types of verbs that occur in the intransitive motion construction are investigated diachronically, and changes in this construction through the history of English are accounted for. A particular focus lies on the consequences of the intense contact of English after the Norman Conquest with French, a language that is shown to be very different in its expression of motion, with the direction or path usually encoded in the verb (cf. Old French entrer, issir 'exit', monter, avaler 'descend').