Arapaho Bimorphemic Motion Verbs: an Ontological and Semantic Exploration

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/0k225b32v

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the semantic properties of bimorphemic motion verbs in Arapaho. The bimorphemic verb consists of a verb root initial which indicates direction, manner, or location, then a verb root final which indicates manner of motion. This work first addresses the question of how to categorize bimorphemic stems and verb roots into an ontology of motion. While existing on literature on motion ontologies focuses on monomorphemic verbs, this work seeks to analyze how the verb initial and verb final, as separate and combined elements, affect a verb stem’s place in an ontology. Second, it applies Leonard Talmy’s (2000) work on the typological patterns of motion conflation to determine the motion conflation pattern that Arapaho verbs follow. Since Arapaho motion verbs are bimorphemic, they allow for greater possibilities semantic role conflation in the motion event. This signifies that they follow the multicomponent conflation pattern as described by Talmy (2000).

Creator