Hui-sung Kang

Subjective Motion in English Hui-sung Kang

Crosslinguistically, motion verbs are used to describe stationary scenes. Sentences such as 'The road runs through the valley' and 'The mountain range goes from Canada to Mexico' include a motion verb but express no explicit motion or state change. Such sentences involve a motion evoked in the mind of the conceptualizer, which is called subjective motion, fictive motion, or abstract motion. This book aims to investigate these motion expressions in English employing the term of subjective motion. It provides both similarities and differences between objective physical motion and subjective motion establishing grounds for accepting the validity of the subjective motion account. Also, the characteristics of subjective motion in English are analyzed in light of Path, Manner, and language-specific features. It is not trivial nor random that motion verbs are systematically used to describe stationary scenes. Although a lot more work is needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn, this preliminary exploration demonstrates possible complexities of subjective motion constructions.