COGLANG · The linguistic and cognitive representation of motion events
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2006-05-01 → 2008-04-30
- EU contribution
- €142,472
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- EIF
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Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - COGLANG (The linguistic and cognitive representation of motion events)
The study addressed the relation between language and cognition and examined the influence of language-specific patterns on linguistic and non-linguistic categorisation across speakers of French and Polish. These languages differ in the way they encode two basic parameters associated with motion, namely Path and Manner: while Polish expresses Path in the verb prefix and Manner, obligatorily, in the main verb (e.g. w-biec 'in-run', wy-biec 'out-run'), French tends to express Path in the main verb and Manner, optionally, in a gerund or some other adverbial expression (e.g. entrer en courant 'enter running', sortir en courant 'exit running'). The aim of the study was to scrutinise the discursive and cognitive implications of these typological patterns. Grounded in an interdisciplinary approach, the study combined linguistic and non-linguistic methods in order to assess whether and how language-specific patterns determine the particular aspects of motion events, such as Manner and/or Path, on which speakers of French and Polish focus in describing and categorising (in language and non-linguistic cognition) such events. The project has produced new results relating to the issues of spatial language and cognition among French and Polish speakers, leading to a thorough description and characterisation of this conceptual domain. More specifically, by investigating the representation of both spontaneous and caused motion events (e.g. run into the room vs. put the apple into the bowl), this project: (1) documented typological patterns of the expression of motion events in French and Polish (2) evaluated the impact of language typology on linguistic and non-linguistic cognition, and (3) gained insight into semantic categories underlying the representation of motion.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The study addresses the issue of the relation between language and cognition and seeks to assess whether language-specific patterns influence linguistic and cognitive activities across speakers of French and Polish. These languages differ in the way they encode two basic parameters associated with motion, Path and Manner: while Polish expresses Path in the prefix and Manner, obligatory, in the main verb [in-run, out-run], French tends to express Path in the main verb and Manner, optionally, in a gerund [enter (running), exit (running)].The aim of the study is to scrutinize by psycholinguistic means the discursive and cognitive implications of these typological patterns. Grounded in an interdisciplinary approach, the study combines two psycholinguistic methods based on videotaped acted events of motion: a linguistic task of verbal description and a cognitive task of similarity judgments. The study seeks to assess whether and how language-specific patterns determine the particular aspects of motion events, such as Manner and/or Path, on which speakers focus in performing these tasks.The projected contribution of the project is(1) to document typological patterns and discursive construction of the information related to motion events in French and Polish,(2) to evaluate the effect of language typology on linguistic and non-linguistic cognition, and(3) to gain insight into factors that determine and constrain linguistic and non-linguistic processing.The results of this study will enhance our understanding of cognitive processes underlying linguistic structure and will have implications for both linguistic and psychology.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- MAX PLANCK GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DES WISSENSCHAFTEN E.V. REPRESENTED BY THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR PSYCHOLINGUISTICS · NIJMEGENCoordinatorCity levelNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union