This chapter illustrates the benefits of applying insights from language typologies in order to afford better understanding of both theoretical and practical implications of language contrasts. It examines the practical consequences of certain typological contrasts for different professional contexts of communication, such as translation, second language acquisition and teaching, and the law. For the purpose of the present volume we focus on the cognitive domain of motion. Our analysis of the relevant motion event lexicalization phenomena is based on the three central criteria that underlie the research within Applied Language Typology (ALT): (i) presence versus absence of lexical and grammatical categories, (ii) more versus less restrictive lexical and grammatical categories, and (iii) complementarity in the distribution of categories. In this chapter, we discuss a select number of examples of lexicalization of motion and dynamic spatial relations (e.g. speaker and Figure positioning) across typologically different languages and we show how the ALT criteria enable us to identify exact points where language constrasts cause practical difficulty. Finally, we suggest future directions for ALT research that benefits both academic researchers and language practitioners alike.
Bastiaanse, R., Bamyaci, E., Hsu, Ch.-J., Lee, J., Yarbay Duman, T., & Thompson, C. K.2011. Time reference in agrammatical aphasia: A cross-linguistic study. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 652–673.
Cadierno, T.2008. Motion events in Danish and Spanish: A focus on form pedagogical approach. In S. De Knop, & T. De Rycker (Eds.), Cognitive approaches to pedagogical grammar (259–294). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Comrie, B.[1981] 1989. Language universals and linguistic typology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Elllis, N. C.2008. The psycholinguistic of the interaction hypothesis. In A. Mackey, & C. Polio (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on interaction in SLA: Second language research in honor of Susan M. Gass (11–40). New York: Routledge.
Fausey, C. M., & Boroditsky, L.2011. Who dunnit? Cross-linguistic differences in eye-witness memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(1), 150–157.
Filipović, L.1999. Language-specific expression of motion and its use in narrative texts. MPhil Dissertation, University of Cambridge.
Filipović, L.2007b. Language as a witness: Insights from cognitive linguistics. Speech, Language and the Law, 14(2), 245–267.
Filipović, L.2008. Typology in action: Applying insights from typological contrasts. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 18(1), 42–61.
Filipović, L.2009. Motion events in semantic typology and eyewitness interviews. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(1), 300–313.
Filipović, L.2010a. Typology meets witness narratives and memory: Theory and practice entwined in cognitive linguistics. In E. Tabakowska, M. Choinski, & L. Wiraszka (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics in action: Theory to application and back (269–291). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Filipović, L.2010b. The importance of being a prefix. In V. Driagina-Hasko, & R. Perelmutter, R. (Eds.), Slavic verbs of motion (247–266). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Filipović, L.2011. Speaking and remembering in one or two languages: Bilingual vs. monolingual lexicalization and memory for motion events. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15(4), 466–485.
Filipović, L.2013b. Constructing causation in language and memory: Implications for access to justice in multilingual interactions. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 20(1), 1–19.
Filipović, L.2013c. The role of language in legal contexts: A forensic cross-linguistic viewpoint. In M. Freeman, & F. Smith (Eds.), Law and language: Current legal issues (15) (328–343). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Filipović, L., & Hawkins, J. A.2013. Multiple factors in second language acquisition: The CASP model. Linguistics, 51(1), 145–176.
Filipović, L., & Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I.2015. Motion. In E. Dąbrowska, & D. Divjak (Eds.), Mouton handbook of cognitive linguistics (526–545). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Greenberg, J. H.1963. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to order of meaningful elements. In J. H. Greenberg (Ed.), Universals of language (73–113). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Greenberg, J. H.1966. Language universals, with special reference to feature hierarchies. The Hague: Mouton.
Gullberg, M.2009. Reconstructing verb meaning in a second language: How English speakers of L2 Dutch talk and gesture about placement. International Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7, 222–245.
Hasko, V.2010. The role of thinking for speaking in adult L2 speech: The case of (non)unidirectionality encoding by American learners of Russian. In Z.-H. Han, & T. Cadierno (Eds.), Linguistic relativity in SLA: Thinking for speaking (34–58), Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Hawkins, J. A.1983. Word order universals. New York: Academic Press.
Hawkins, J. A.1994. A performance theory of order and constituency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hawkins, J. A.2004. Efficiency and complexity in grammars. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hawkins, J. A.2014. Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hawkins, J. A., & Filipović, L.2012. Criterial features in L2 English: Specifying the reference levels of the Common European Framework. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hijazo-Gascón, A.2015. Acquisition of motion events in L2 Spanish by German, French and Italian speakers. Language Learning Journal.
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I.2009. Path salience in motion events. In J. Guo, E. Lieven, N. Budwig, S. Ervin-Tripp, K. Nakamura, & Ş. Özçalışkan (Eds.), Crosslinguistic approaches to the psychology of language: Research in the tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin (403–414). New York: Psychology Press.
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I.2012. Placement and removal events in Basque and Spanish. In A. Kopecka, & B. Narasimhan (Eds.), The events of putting and taking. A crosslinguistic perspective (123–143). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., & Filipović, L.2013. Lexicalization patterns and translation. In A. Rojo, & I. Ibarretxe-Antuñano (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics and translation. Advances in some theoretical models and applications (253–284). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kellerman, E.1983. Now you see it, now you don’t. In S. Gass, & L, Selinker (Eds.), Language transfer in language learning (112–134). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Majid, A., & Bowerman, M. (Eds.). 2007. Cutting and breaking events: A crosslinguistic perspective [Special Issue]. Cognitive Linguistics, 18(2).
Matthews, P. H.1995. Syntax, semantics, pragmatics. In G. Palmer (Ed.), Grammar and meaning (48–60). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moravcsik, E.2013. Introducing language typology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Odlin, T.1989. Language transfer. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sapir, E.1921. Language: An introduction to the study of speech. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Schmidt, R.1993. Awareness and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 206–226.
Slobin, D. I.1996. Two ways to travel: Verbs of motion in English and Spanish. In M. Shibatani, & S. A. Thompson (Eds.), Grammatical constructions: Their form and meaning (195–220). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Slobin, D. I.2004. The many ways to search for a frog: Linguistic typology and the expression of motion events. In S. Strömqvist, & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Relating events in narrative: Typological and contextual perspectives (219–257). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Talmy, L.1985. Lexicalization patterns: semantic structure in lexical form. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description. Vol. 3: Grammatical categories and the lexicon (36–149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Talmy, L.2000. Toward a cognitive semantics. Vol. II: Typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Trudgill, P.2011. Sociolinguistic typology: Social determinants of linguistic complexity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Trujillo, J.2003. The difference in resulting judgments when descriptions use high-manner versus neutral-manner verbs. Senior Dissertation, University of California Berkeley.
Vidaković, I.2006. Second language acquisition of dynamic spatial relations. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge.
Cited by (11)
Cited by 11 other publications
Cifuentes-Férez, Paula
2024.
Approaching the emotional impact of loss of
manner
in translation: A case study on the reception of translated domestic violence testimonies
. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia► pp. 1 ff.
Tosun, Sümeyra & Luna Filipović
2024. Better late than early: The effect of formal second language training on processing of evidentiality in Turkish-English bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism
Cadierno, Teresa, Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano & Alberto Hijazo-Gascón
2023. Reconstructing the expression of placement events in Danish as a second language. Frontiers in Psychology 13
2022. First language versus second language effect on memory for motion events: The role of language type and proficiency. International Journal of Bilingualism 26:1 ► pp. 65 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.