Rethinking English ‘Prepositions of Movement’

Abstract

In this paper, we argue against the view that prepositions designate motion. We make the case for prepositions such as to and through being associated with spatial properties in addition to a functional element. The functional element arises as a consequence of our daily interaction with the spatial configuration associated with the particular preposition. While to is associated with a spatial configuration in which a TR is oriented in the direction of a LM, its functional element is that of the LM constituting the TR's goal. Due to the integration of spatial and functional elements with sentential context, particularly motion verbs, a movement reading is derived. Previous scholars have assumed this is due to the preposition itself. With regard to through, its semantics are associated with a spatial configuration involving contiguous locations from one side of a bounded LM to the other. The functional element is that of path, which, while correlating with motion, is distinct from it. The notion of motion which often arises in sentences involving through is due to the integration of the spatial and functional character of through with other sentential prompts for movement such as motion verbs. In essence, we argue for carefully articulating the nature of conventional content associated with prepositions, including both spatio-geometric and functional content, and for teasing apart distinct and distinguishable (albeit related) concepts such as orientation, path, trajectory, goal, and motion.

Continuity and discontinuity in the semantics of the Latin preposition per: a cognitive hypothesis

“…durch, etc.) has been generally analyzed as an Extended Location, involving an oriented multiplicity of contiguous points, which is occupied by the tr through or across the lm (see Taylor 1993;Dirven 1993;Evans & Tyler 2004).This schematic import is represented in Fig. 2: This schematic configuration is fully consistent with the reconstructions traditionally proposed for the Latin preposition per.…”

“…Partially borrowing the terminology adopted in Evans & Tyler (2004), we will call the beginning and the end of the Location of the tr "Locational Starting Point" and "Locational End Point", respectively. 2 Nevertheless, the tr can variously fill this Location, depending on its own features: i. e. simultaneously, if the tr is an extended entity (e.g.…”

“…In the latter case (which is naturally imposed by verbs of motion), the tr follows a Path within the lm, which is directed towards an implied Goal and whose trajectory is described by the preposition. Thus both the notions of Motion and Time are implied in the basic locational configuration (see Evans & Tyler 2004), which is in fact elaborated as a progression of contiguous locations occupied by a moveable tr over time.…”

“…Also in this case, however, a metonymical process is involved, in that the metaphorical projection always focuses or defocuses some specific type property and/or an implication. STUF 64 (2011) 2 2 Deviating from Evans & Tyler (2004), however, we propose an explicit and operative distinction between: a) Starting and End Point, on the one hand, which are purely configurational (i.e. static) notions, not implying any specifications about the participants' features nor the semantics of the verb; and b) Source and Goal, on the other hand, entailing the existence of a motion event and, hence, of a trajectory followed by the lm.…”

Catalan Adpositions of ‘Movement’ as Aspectual Particles

“…Some scholars also argue against the dynamic nature of so called 'adpositions of movement': notably Evans and Tyler (2005) for to and through in English, Borillo (2005) for vers and contre in French, and Meex (2005) über and durch in German. Even in languages lacking prepositions, movement may be expressed through sentential meaning: in Jakaltek (Grinevald 2002), for instance, static directional nouns combine with other linguistic elements of the sentence to signal movement.…”