81 Motion-to and motion-from

This feature is described more fully in chapter 81.

Summary

While Features 79 and 80 deal with motion-to and motion-from constructions, respectively, in this feature we compare the coding of the two kinds of motion constructions: we investigate whether languages use the same strategy of different strategies to express the two opposite orientations. However in this feature, the goal/source element is not a named place, but a highly frequent place like 'home', 'town', 'village', ‘the market’ or 'the woods'.

All European base languages have different constructions for motion-to and motion-from a place in that different prepositions are used: English to town/from town, French à la maison/de la maison, Portuguese ao mercado/do mercado.

But in APiCS, it is striking to see that many European-based languages do not follow the European pattern and instead mark goal and source identically. Thus in Krio the preposition na occurs in both contexts, in a motion-to context like a di go na di makit [15-104] 'I am going to the market', and a motion-from context like a jɛs kɔmɔt na di makit [15-105]'I just came back from the market.' The hearer has to infer the relevant orientation from the meaning of the verb.

Authors

Susanne Maria Michaelis and the APiCS Consortium

Values

Identity21
Differentiation43
Overlap9
Identity and differentiation2
Representation:75

Language Value Lexifier Details Source
Id Primary text Analyzed text Gloss Translation Type Language Audio Details