Delimited events in English and Spanish

Abstract

Tenny (1994) has pointed out that verbs may be delimited by inserting an NP which will measure out the event. Alternatively, the addition of a terminus delimits a manner of motion event (cf. Carmen walked to school). Research on motion events (Talmy 1985; Tenny 1994; Jackendoff 1990; Aske 1989; Slobin 1996; Mora 1999; among others) has shown that Spanish, as other Romance languages, does not conflate manner and motion in the verb. Thus, The bottle floated out of the cave becomes La botella salió de la cueva (flotando) (‘the bottle moved-out from the cave’). However, an extensive search for motion events in the CREA (Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual) reveals numerous examples which conflate manner and motion in the verb. The pattern might have been introduced gradually, first with general motion verbs like caminar (‘walk’) or correr (‘run’), which are more productive in a delimited sense, and has extended to events that mark the manner more saliently, like saltar (‘jump’). Atelic path phrases are more compatible with Spanish manner of motion verbs but, contra Aske, telic path phrases are also attested.