Lexicalization Patterns

Abstract

This chapter surveys accounts of systematic cross-linguistic differences in the distribution of conceptual components across the constituents of clauses describing the same event. These differences are embodied in Talmy’s seminal V(erb)-framed vs. S(atellite)-framed typology, first applied to directed motion events. Subsequent work supports this typology by showing that other properties of a language cluster with its motion event description type, but also reveals that the empirical landscape is more complex than a two-way typology can capture. A fuller account requires determining the grammatical factors underpinning the typological patterns. We review current accounts which derive these patterns by attributing them to: (i) differences in properties of a language’s lexical items and generalizations concerning the structure of its lexicon and (ii) differences in compositional mechanisms. The chapter also considers Manner/Result Complementarity, a constraint on the conceptual content encoded in the basic components of a verb’s meaning, in the context of lexicalization patterns.