Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Motion event cognition and grammatical aspect : evidence from Afrikaans

Bylund, Emanuel ; Athanasopoulos, Panos LU and Oostendorp, Marcelyn (2013) In Linguistics 51(5). p.929-955
Abstract
Research on the relationship between grammatical aspect and motion event construal has posited that speakers of non-aspect languages are more prone to encoding event endpoints than are speakers of aspect languages (e.g., von Stutterheim and Carroll 2011). In the present study, we test this hypothesis by extending this line of inquiry to Afrikaans, a non-aspect language which is previously unexplored in this regard. Motion endpoint behavior among Afrikaans speakers was measured by means of a linguistic retelling task and a non- linguistic similarity judgment task, and then compared with the behavior of speakers of a non-aspect language (Swedish) and speakers of... (More)
Research on the relationship between grammatical aspect and motion event construal has posited that speakers of non-aspect languages are more prone to encoding event endpoints than are speakers of aspect languages (e.g., von Stutterheim and Carroll 2011). In the present study, we test this hypothesis by extending this line of inquiry to Afrikaans, a non-aspect language which is previously unexplored in this regard. Motion endpoint behavior among Afrikaans speakers was measured by means of a linguistic retelling task and a non- linguistic similarity judgment task, and then compared with the behavior of speakers of a non-aspect language (Swedish) and speakers of an aspect language (English). Results showed the Afrikaans speakers’ endpoint patterns aligned with Swedish patterns, but were significantly different from English patterns. It was also found that the variation among the Afrikaans speakers could be partially explained by taking into account their frequency of use of English, such that those who used English more frequently exhibited an endpoint behavior that was more similar to English speakers. The current study thus lends further support to the hypothesis that speakers of different languages attend differently to event endpoints as a function of the grammatical category of aspect. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Afrikaans, cognition, endpoints, grammatical aspect, linguistic relativity, motion event
in
Linguistics
volume
51
issue
5
pages
27 pages
publisher
De Gruyter
external identifiers
  • scopus:84888591809
ISSN
1613-396X
DOI
10.1515/ling-2013-0033
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
99fa2a37-c116-4f26-9f82-2043c57db290
date added to LUP
2024-05-17 10:10:20
date last changed
2024-05-27 14:34:41
@article{99fa2a37-c116-4f26-9f82-2043c57db290,
  abstract     = {{Research on the relationship between grammatical aspect and motion event  construal  has  posited  that  speakers  of  non-aspect  languages  are  more  prone  to  encoding  event  endpoints  than  are  speakers  of  aspect  languages  (e.g.,  von  Stutterheim  and  Carroll  2011).  In  the  present  study,  we  test  this  hypothesis  by  extending  this  line  of  inquiry  to  Afrikaans,  a  non-aspect  language  which  is   previously   unexplored   in   this   regard.   Motion   endpoint   behavior   among   Afrikaans speakers was measured by means of a linguistic retelling task and a non- linguistic  similarity  judgment  task,  and  then  compared  with  the  behavior  of  speakers of a non-aspect language (Swedish) and speakers of an aspect language (English). Results showed the Afrikaans speakers’ endpoint patterns aligned with Swedish  patterns,  but  were  significantly  different  from  English  patterns.  It  was  also  found  that  the  variation  among  the  Afrikaans  speakers  could  be  partially  explained  by  taking  into  account  their  frequency  of  use  of  English,  such  that  those who used English more frequently exhibited an endpoint behavior that was more  similar  to  English  speakers.  The  current  study  thus  lends  further  support  to the hypothesis that speakers of different languages attend differently to event endpoints as a function of the grammatical category of aspect.}},
  author       = {{Bylund, Emanuel and Athanasopoulos, Panos and Oostendorp, Marcelyn}},
  issn         = {{1613-396X}},
  keywords     = {{Afrikaans; cognition; endpoints; grammatical aspect; linguistic relativity; motion event}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{929--955}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter}},
  series       = {{Linguistics}},
  title        = {{Motion event cognition and grammatical aspect : evidence from Afrikaans}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ling-2013-0033}},
  doi          = {{10.1515/ling-2013-0033}},
  volume       = {{51}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}