Maja Robbers's Abstract

Underlying Paths in minimally bipartite Source expressions

Maja Robbers (Uppsala University)

I will present work in progress that aims to describe and compare spatial Source expressions that I call minimally bipartite, consisting of a stative or locative component and one or more Goal-directed components. It is shown that, as opposed to lexicalized Source verbs or grammaticalized Source markers, Source readings can arise from inferences of underlying bounded Path conceptions. Between both obligatory components, a vector is established which identifies the Ground referent as the Source of motion, cf. Abui:

i) Abui (Kratochvíl 2007: 356)

fala mi-a yaa!

house be.in-dur go

‘go from the house!’ (lit. ‘be in the house, go!’)

A comparison of 11 doculects from Papunesia, the Americas and Africa, shows that this Source expression type is found with both coordinated and subordinated structures, likely showing degrees of grammaticalization towards Source marking. I will discuss the variety of expression types that attest to the common principle of combining stative and Goal-directed elements to code Source. Moreover, an attempt is made to scrutinize bipartite Source expressions in the style of Bohnemeyer et al.’s (2007) semantic typology of event segmentation, viz. by applying the macro-event property (MEP) analysis to individual examples.