Die Trajector/Landmark-Konfigurationen in den räumlichen Bedeutungen der Präposition an und ihren polnischen Entsprechungen

Abstract

The present article investigates, from the perspective of the Cognitive Linguistics, the trajector (TR)/landmark (LM) configurations in the spatial meanings of the preposition an on the conceptual level and compares them with their Polish counterparts. The selected samples from the DWDS corpus and their translational equivalents form the subject are the subject of the investigation. The established TR/LM relations are checked for similarities and differences. The main focus is on the concept of the surface as the LM in its vertical and horizontal alignment as well as the determination of the case. The cognitive-linguistic studies of the semantics of prepositions mainly concern the English language. Thus the original value of the present analysis is its contrasting German-Polish orientation. The aim of the analysis is to determine the TR/LM relations, differences in the conceptualization of the scene depending on which objects form the LM and which are highlighted as TR. The question of how the conceptualization of the LM and/or the TR of the preposition influences the conceptualization of the scene and the meaning of the preposition is investigated. The analysis is based on findings of Cognitive Grammar to understand the meaning as conceptualization (Langacker 2008) and on the schematic conceptualization of the TR/LM relation as a spatial relation of two points (Herskovits 1986). The TR is seen as the point in focus and the LM as its spatial reference point (Langacker 2008). As a result of the analysis, the schemas of locomotion, transfer and localization with different TR/LM configurations were selected. The comparison of the analyzed utterances with their Polish counterparts revealed differences in the conceptualization of the scene, which were manifested in the choice of prepositions. It further turned out that the German preposition an and its Polish counterparts differ in terms of relevance/irrelevance of the movement, non-movement and direction for determining or choosing a case as well as in terms of the conceptualization of the surface as the LM with regard to its vertical and horizontal orientation.

Keywords

• preposition
• meaning
• conceptual level