La notion de « manière » dans la sémantique de l'espace

Abstract

In this study, we explore the notion of manner from a semantic point of view. We first present works in lexical semantics that have dealt with manner as an ontological or primitive semantic category or as a basic component of the meaning of several lexemes. This brief review reveals that only a few scholars have really tried to define the notion of manner although it is one of the most important concepts that human language and the human mind have to deal with. Next, we define the semantic features that activate a manner interpretation in the case of some motion and location verbs. By analyzing about 150 manner of motion verbs in French, we show that their manner interpretation is due to the presence in their lexical meaning of features such as : SPEED (courir ‘run’, filer ‘rush’), BEARING/POSTURE (marcher ‘walk’, boiter ‘limp’, tituber ‘stagger’, twister ‘twist’), FORCE (jaillir ‘gush out’, heurter ‘knock’), AIMLESSNESS (errer ‘wander about’), MEDIUM (nager ‘swim’, patiner ‘skate’, voler ‘fly’), and so on. Manner of location verbs, on the other hand, incorporate in their meaning some of the following features : POSTURE, SHAPE, COLOUR, FUNCTION, and so on. These results, pertaining to the semantics of spatial expressions, suggest that manner is a complex concept which we propose to define as a limited set of more basic features.

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