Motion in Language and Experience

Motion has attracted much attention in the field of semantics. In cognitive semantics, it is seen as a basic and universal domain for language and cognition. In semantic typology, languages have been suggested to follow a binary typology of “motion events”. However, the validity of these claims has been disputed in relation to cross-linguistic diversity. By bringing together insights from Husserlian phenomenology and Cognitive Linguistics, Motion in Language and Experience develops a framework for addressing important questions in contemporary semantics. In order to account for both universality and variation across languages, this framework proposes that linguistic meaning is motivated from experience, but strongly adaptable to language-specific conventions. Semantic and typological issues are addressed in two cross-linguistic studies carried out with speakers of Swedish, French and Thai. The first study investigates the expression of actual motion, where an object changes its position against a background. The second study focuses on the expression of non-actual motion, where motion expressions are used to describe situations without any apparent positional change, such as The road runs through the forest.