ABSTRACT
T he overarching goal of the present study is to examine the relation between syntax and semantics in the expression of Motion events. To this end, I have examined the syntactic properties of two semantic components-Path and Cause of Motion-in four languages, English, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. These languages differ in terms of both general language typology (e.g., word order) and more specically in their lexicalization patterns of Motion events (S-vs. V-framed languages). The data come from elicited production of Motion event descriptions from adult speakers of the four languages. In the course of the present analysis, I will examine similarities and differences in the way these languages encode Path and Cause of Motion. These crosslinguistic differences can be explained in large part by the lexicalization pattern of the language as dened by Talmy (1985). However, the data will also reveal that some variations exist among the languages of the same lexicalization type. The ndings will show that the distinction between S-and V-framed languages forms a continuum rather than a dichotomy.
