This project has two major lines of research being conducted from cognitive-linguistic points of view. One is a typological study of verb meanings, focusing on verbs representing spatial motion. In this research the way speakers describe motion events are being investigated in 20 languages, using an experimental production method. Crosslinguistic similarities and differences are examined to uncover how linguistic representations reflect the underling construal of events. See our page for NINJAL Project on Motion Event Descriptions across Languages (MEDAL) for details. The other is a theoretical study of verb meanings, especially focusing on the role of “frame” (or world knowledge) in the semantics of verbs. The role of frame in the morphological and syntactic behaviors of verbs is also investigated.

Subproject Leader
Yo Matsumoto (Professor, Division of Theory and Typology, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics)