Cognitive patterns in motion:
English and Spanish comparative study
Sonia Suárez Cepeda (UNLPam)
ABSTRACT: The aim of this pilot experimental study was to observe whether the tendencies reported in recent experimental studies (Finkbeiner et al., 2002), Gennari et al., 2002), Papafragou et al. , 2001, 2004) and Bohnemeyer et al 2006, 2007) were also observed in Spanish and English speakers describing filmed scenes that contained sequences denoting i) a motion path; ii) the manner of motion (as in, for example, run or crawl) or iii) features characterizing the path itself (as in cross or go around ). Preliminary data were analyzed in terms of the variations observed in the use of i) the verb as the central constituent and ii) other semantic motion-independent resources/processes that may be combined with the verb to encode path and manner but are not expressed in the verb itself. Results in our preliminary pilot study show different patterns of describing motion events which can combine main verb and peripheral constructions for both languages. Spanish speakers tend to convey manner information through adjacent or peripheral constructions, specifically gerund constructions, which are pragmatically salient in the discourse situation .The frequency of expressing manner or path information in the main verb seem to depend on the language specific properties the speakers activate at the eliciting task.
