The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and Containers
In English, a single sentence can be formed with only one core verb, while in Chinese, a serial verb construction is required to encode elements that are semantically equivalent to the English core verb. In English, verbs that involve no horizontal/vertical path, such as swirl, or even verbs that la...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sciendo
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Studies in Chinese Linguistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2024-0003 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849693374544609280 |
|---|---|
| author | Xu Xiaotong Chen Mitian |
| author_facet | Xu Xiaotong Chen Mitian |
| author_sort | Xu Xiaotong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In English, a single sentence can be formed with only one core verb, while in Chinese, a serial verb construction is required to encode elements that are semantically equivalent to the English core verb. In English, verbs that involve no horizontal/vertical path, such as swirl, or even verbs that lack the concept of motion, such as roar, can directly enter a sentence when coupled with an element denoting the path. Yet in Chinese, the complement from a main movement verb is required. For example, verbs like xuánzhuǎn ‘swirl’ and hūxiào ‘roar’ can only function as additional elements to modify main movement verbs like fēi ‘fly’ or shǐ ‘drive’. Building on this observation, the present research investigates autonomous motion event sentences in Chinese and English, proposing that in both languages, characterizing an autonomous motion event requires the semantic conflation of its motion and path to express a concept of translational movement. The differences in semantic conflation patterns between Chinese and English can be attributed to the greater number and variety of prepositions in English. Some English prepositions, such as across, encode a directional path, while others, such as in, do not. Prepositions expressing a directional path could compensate for the absence of directional motion in non-horizontal/vertical movement verbs. However, Chinese has far fewer prepositions, and none encode a directional path, making movement verbs or directional path verbs indispensable. This study concludes that when a complement for movement is needed to characterize an autonomous motion event, prepositions expressing path perform this function in English, whereas in Chinese, the role is fulfilled by verbs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-21c7ac6d28c24a1da40fbf74a5808c94 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2470-8275 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studies in Chinese Linguistics |
| spelling | doaj-art-21c7ac6d28c24a1da40fbf74a5808c942025-08-20T03:20:26ZengSciendoStudies in Chinese Linguistics2470-82752025-06-01451557410.2478/scl-2024-0003The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and ContainersXu Xiaotong0Chen Mitian1University of MacauThe Ohio State UniversityIn English, a single sentence can be formed with only one core verb, while in Chinese, a serial verb construction is required to encode elements that are semantically equivalent to the English core verb. In English, verbs that involve no horizontal/vertical path, such as swirl, or even verbs that lack the concept of motion, such as roar, can directly enter a sentence when coupled with an element denoting the path. Yet in Chinese, the complement from a main movement verb is required. For example, verbs like xuánzhuǎn ‘swirl’ and hūxiào ‘roar’ can only function as additional elements to modify main movement verbs like fēi ‘fly’ or shǐ ‘drive’. Building on this observation, the present research investigates autonomous motion event sentences in Chinese and English, proposing that in both languages, characterizing an autonomous motion event requires the semantic conflation of its motion and path to express a concept of translational movement. The differences in semantic conflation patterns between Chinese and English can be attributed to the greater number and variety of prepositions in English. Some English prepositions, such as across, encode a directional path, while others, such as in, do not. Prepositions expressing a directional path could compensate for the absence of directional motion in non-horizontal/vertical movement verbs. However, Chinese has far fewer prepositions, and none encode a directional path, making movement verbs or directional path verbs indispensable. This study concludes that when a complement for movement is needed to characterize an autonomous motion event, prepositions expressing path perform this function in English, whereas in Chinese, the role is fulfilled by verbs.https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2024-0003motion event framesconflationprepositions |
| spellingShingle | Xu Xiaotong Chen Mitian The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and Containers Studies in Chinese Linguistics motion event frames conflation prepositions |
| title | The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and Containers |
| title_full | The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and Containers |
| title_fullStr | The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and Containers |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and Containers |
| title_short | The Difference and Motivation of the Semantic Conflation Patterns in Chinese and English Autonomous Motion Event Sentences: Path and Containers |
| title_sort | difference and motivation of the semantic conflation patterns in chinese and english autonomous motion event sentences path and containers |
| topic | motion event frames conflation prepositions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2024-0003 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xuxiaotong thedifferenceandmotivationofthesemanticconflationpatternsinchineseandenglishautonomousmotioneventsentencespathandcontainers AT chenmitian thedifferenceandmotivationofthesemanticconflationpatternsinchineseandenglishautonomousmotioneventsentencespathandcontainers AT xuxiaotong differenceandmotivationofthesemanticconflationpatternsinchineseandenglishautonomousmotioneventsentencespathandcontainers AT chenmitian differenceandmotivationofthesemanticconflationpatternsinchineseandenglishautonomousmotioneventsentencespathandcontainers |