Verbs of falling in the languages of the world: frames, parameters, and types of the systems
DOI:10.30842/alp2306573716101
Reznikova T. I., Rakhilina Ye. V.,
Ryzhova D. A. Glagoly padeniya v yazykakh mira: freymy, parametry i
tipy sistem. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2020. XVI(1):
9–63.
The article presents the results of a typological analysis of falling verbs performed on a sample of 42 languages. Under falling we understand uncontrolled gravity-forced downward motion in the air without contact with a surface. Within this semantic domain, we identify 4 main situations (frames) that consistently underlie lexical oppositions: moving from a higher surface to a lower one (‘the vase fell from the table’), loss of vertical orientation (‘the vase fell and the water spilled on the tablecloth’), falling-destruction (‘the house collapsed’) and detaching (‘the dress fell off the hanger’). Depending on the encoding strategy of these frames, we distinguish between several types of falling systems. Two extremes in this typology are represented, on the one hand, by a dominant strategy (i.e., all frames may be covered by the same verb) and, on the other, by a distributive system (a special verb is used for each of the frames). Within our sample, the dominant system is encountered, e.g., in Hindi, Greek, Basque, and Tigrinya, and the distributive one is characteristic of Hungarian, Chukchi, Adyghe, and Khmer. These and other lexicalization patterns are visualized using both a traditional semantic map model and formal concept analysis.
The paper also discusses additional parameters that may affect the choice of lexical means — in particular, the type of falling subject, the number of falling items, the peculiarity of the subject’s initial and final positions, the cause of the fall, etc. For example, languages tend to use special verbs to encode falling of precipitation. Multiple subjects (e.g., granular solids or apples) may be lexically opposed to separate elements. In case of humans, verbs of falling may imply a certain orientation of the subject after the falling event (e.g., on one’s back or face down), or a specific reason (falling caused by an internal malfunction — faint, loss of balance, etc., or by an external impact — hitting, shooting, etc.).
Keywords
References
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