نشریه پژوهشهای زبانشناسی (Apr 2022)
Analysis of Orientation Paths in Persian Fictive Motion within the Framework of Cognitive Semantics
Abstract
AbstractFictive motion, a figurative motion of an entity conjured up as a continuous motion of a stationary abstract object, plays a key role in language and caption (Talmy, 2000a). Accordingly, fictive motion paths and orientation paths were subject to scrutiny in the present study. From cognitive semantics, Talmy's (2000a, p. 103) classifications of fictive motion events were broached through several examples. To this end, a preference task entailing 16 extracted sentences from Talmy's (2000a) classifications was developed to scrutinize Persian speakers' intuitions in evaluating fictive motion. The sentences were translated into Persian, while a similar sentence was also reproduced for every translated sentence, as well as 9 pairs of filler sentences, to analyze the cognitive qualities of fictive motion events perceived by the Persian speakers. Prior to conducting a full-scale research project and to control the reliability and validity of the preference task, a pilot study was conducted with 8 participants and 5 linguists. 105 Persian students participated in a two-stage task based on a convenience sampling procedure to single out the fictive motion sentences and terms. As reported by the results, 86.9% of the participants marked the motion sentences. Prepositional phrases were selected as the motion constituents by the average number of 56 participants. This led to the conclusion that the paths were the most frequent semantic elements in Persian.Keywords: Fictive Motion, Fictive Motion Category, Motion, Path, Prepositional Phrase IntroductionMotion is one of the key cognitive structures of human experience, which is closely entwined with perceptual mechanisms. Notably, verbalization of motion in real life involves specific visual representations, which are manifested through special linguistic codes. Such a relationship between conceptual and linguistic representations of motion has long been a matter of great interest in linguistic studies since languages differ in the way they code instances of motion linguistically.The concept of motion and fictive motion events are described to highlight their importance in human languages. The principal aim of the present paper was to enrich the existing literature on how patterns of fictive motion events are recognized and lexicalized in Persian in general and described as the semantics of Persian fictive motion in particular. In math and physics, however, different descriptions in terms of change, displacement, and distance are considered for motion (Tyson et al., 2000). In linguistics, it is assumed that people normally know what the motion is when someone or something moves. They even know how to linguistically transfer such experiences (Filipović & Ibarretxe-Antuñano, 2015). By and large, motion can be signified factively and fictively. Physical movement or displacement of an entity is called factive motion, while the object does not experience any physical changes in fictive motion (Bohnemeyer, 2010). Clearly, figure, ground, path, and manner are 4 semantic elements of motion events. Figure is the object that moves or appears in a stationary location; ground is the object, in respect to which the figure moves; path refers to translational motion; and manner refers to the actual movement, which is implied by the verb (Slobin, 1996; Talmy, 1985).Fictive motion (Talmy 1996, 2000; Langacker, 2005, 2008a) denotes a figurative image of motion attributed to states, motionless objects, or abstract concepts.Not surprisingly, several Iranian linguists have been working on fictive motion events but have failed to address the full range of categories and dimensions defined by Talmy (2000a). Most Persian studies have been merely done on the last category of fictive motion, namely coextension paths, while ignoring the other categories of the operational framework. Neglecting other fictive motion categories by the Iranian scholars motivated the researcher to adopt a more comprehensive stance in order to create a holistic account of the concept by using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Hence, the primary significance of the present paper was to investigate the semantic/conceptual components and paths of fictive motion events based on the theoretical framework offered by Talmy. In other words, the principal goal of this paper was to expound the concept of fictive motion from a ground-breaking angle that could create a more comprehensive image of the issue. Furthermore, it tried to enhance our understanding of the way fictive motion events in Persian might be described in light of the universality of meanings cross-linguistically. Materials and MethodsThis study involved a face-to-face stage followed by an on-line stage, in which 16 sentences were randomly drawn from Talmy’s (2000a) fictive motion categories. To make sure that the inter-sentential differences existing among the pairs of sentences were not easily recognizable, 9 filler sentence pairs were also added to the sentence test prompts formulated before, which were sandwiched between the main sentence pairs comprising the preference task. It is interesting to note that in the translation of fictive motion sentences from English into Persian, care was taken to find the most acceptable Persian equivalents for the English verbs and prepositions in the preference task. Subsequently, to analyze the cognitive qualities of the fictive motion events perceived by the Persian speakers, a similar sentence was also reproduced for every translated sentence. These sentence test prompts were semantically close, but fictively different and provided an admixture of motion and motionless events.105 participants took part in the preference task. They were all undergraduate students at the Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, who were selected by using the convenience sampling method.Alternatively, to eliminate any possible ambiguities and help the participants to learn how to tackle this task, the researcher arranged a debriefing session to provide the participants with an oral explanation about the nature of the task and the way they could perform it. This session took place before the Corona virus pandemic. The second stage in this study was launched during Covid-19 pandemic when the social media were employed as a functionally useful tool for collecting the required data. The data collected in both stages was classified into the 4 categories of motion sentences, motionless sentences, both sentences, and none of the sentences to cover all the potential possibilities involving motion diagnosis and interpretation.The main objective of the preference task was to examine the participants’ recognition of the sentences with motion rather than motionless events by choosing the appropriate target event in each pair. To guarantee data authenticity, the answers provided by the participants by chance and those not answered at all were also considered in the data analysis. To analyze the data, SPSS statistical software was employed for estimating the frequency and percentage values of the responses provided by the participants for each category.The existing differences were further analyzed by utilizing the statistical tests of chi-square and one-way ANOVA. While the rationale behind using the statistical technique of Chi-square was to measure if there was an equal probability of occurrence across all the targeted categories. Application of ANOVA was another attempt to further attest the significance of variations among the various categories of motion events. In the chi-square analysis, it was expected that the motion sentences reflect the most probable category. Based on the mean and standard deviation values belonging to the three independent categories, the ANOVA test aimed to alternatively determine whether there was any statistical evidence showing that the targeted means were significantly different. Discussion of Results and ConclusionsThe present study addressed a niche in the domain of fictive motion events, i.e., the roles of paths in Persian. Therefore, a two-stage study was conducted to investigate comprehension of fictive motion sentences in Persian. Stage 1 used a preference task to inspect to what extent the fictive motion sentences were recognizable for the Persian speakers. Stage 2, moreover, examined the motion constituent in the fictive motion sentences. Therefore, several pieces of evidence concerning fictive motion events were scrutinized. To achieve these aims, the preference task containing 25 pairs of sentences was handed out to 105 Persian speakers. The results in the first stage revealed that approximately 87% of the participants recognized and confirmed the fictivity of the fictive motion sentences in Persian. In the second stage, maximum number of prepositional phrases was underlined, indicating that the path motions conjured by the Persian speakers were more than the other semantic constituents in the sentences.
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