This project investigates categorization of motion events across languages. Questions considered in this project include: (a) how do languages categorise different ways of moving, (b) what sorts of fine-grained semantic notions do languages conflate in the verb, (c) how are verbs of motion interrelated and what type of stratification can be found in the motion verb lexicon, and (d) to what extend do languages differ in the way their motion verb lexicon is organised.

Researchers

• Eef Ameel (University of Leuven)
• Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano (University of Zaragoza)
• Mutsumi Imai (Keio University at Shonan-Fujisawa)
• Silvia Gennari (University of York)
• Anetta Kopecka (Université Lyon 2)
• Asifa Majid
• Barbara Malt (Lehigh University)
• Dan Slobin (University of California, Berkeley)

Representative publications

• Malt, B.C., Gennari, S., Imai, M., Ameel, E., Tsuda, N., & Majid, A. (2008). Talking about walking: Biomechanics and the language of locomotion. Psychological Science, 19(3), 232-240.
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Contact person

Asifa Majid