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Part of
Corpus Approaches to Language, Thought and Communication
Edited by Wei-lun Lu, Naděžda Kudrnáčová and Laura A. Janda
[Benjamins Current Topics 119] 2021
► pp. 53–77

Contrastive semantics of human locomotion verbs

English walk vs. Czech jít and kráčet

 | Masaryk University
This paper is a contribution to a hitherto unexplored area in English-Czech contrastive semantics. It examines differences in the construal of walking, the most prototypical type of human locomotion. Based on the data from InterCorp, a synchronic parallel translation corpus, it presents a cognitive oriented analysis of the semantics of English walk and its nearest Czech counterparts, i.e. jít and kráčet. Despite their apparent commonalities, the verbs in question do not construe walking in the same way. In contrast to jít, the construal of a motion situation in walk and kráčet involves focus on leg movements and bodily position, amounting to a marked segmentation of the motion into individual quanta. Focus on leg movements and verticality of the body is even more pronounced in kráčet, which can then serve an evaluative function; such a possibility is not open for walk. Walk thus occupies an intermediate position between the two verbs.
Keywords: contrastive semantics, parallel translation corpus, verbs of human locomotion, quantization of motion
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data, method, and research question
  • 3.A brief survey of the descriptions of walk in the literature
  • 4.Quantization of motion in walk, jít and kráčet: A preliminary account
  • 5.Speed in relation to the character of the quantization of motion
  • 6.Bodily posture
  • 7.Directionality of path
    • 7.1Prepositional path phrases
      • 7.1.1Relative suppression of directionality in in- and on-path phrases
    • 7.2Prepositionless path phrases
  • 8.The human actor’s experiential self in kráčet
  • 9. Kráčet used as an evaluative verb
  • 10.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.119.04kud
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