ABSTRACT
An event consists of several components and properties such as the manner and path of motion or the temporal phases of an action. Languages tend to employ different linguistic devices to encode these components and properties, resulting in their differential codability. For example, manner of motion in a motion event is highly codable in English because it is carried by the main verb (e.g., walk versus run), and every clause requires a verb. In French, manner is an optional addition to a clause that is already complete. For example, in English, Sentence (1a) can be expressed as Sentence (1b) by using the verb run, which encodes the manner of entering. In contrast, the corresponding sentence in French can only be expressed as Sentence (2), which encodes the manner by adding an adverbial phrase (Slobin, 2003, p. 162).
