Relations Among MOCAP and Textual Data of Motion Verbs: A Distance Calculation Perspective

Abstract

This is a study on language and action that tries to shed light on their conceptual correspondence in terms of embodiment. The linguistic phenomenon of lexical aspect/Aktionsart is studied in connection to joint angles and time. For the purposes of this research, data concerning the usage of a set of Modern Greek verbs were collected and annotated; in addition, motion data were captured for the same verbs. First, the distance between actions and verbs was calculated revealing a strong connection between certain types of language data, lower limb motion, and time: an extended use of the lower limbs is related to longer or repetitive actions while time expresses duration.