The prepositions par and à travers and the categorization of spatial entities in French

This chapter shows how the semantic study of dynamic spatial prepositions par and à travers in French can contribute to the categorization of spatial entities in language and cognition. The analysis of various constraints involved by par and à travers on the nature of locating entities allows us to refine the existing “static” ontology of spatial entities (cf. Borillo 1988, 1999; Aurnague 1991, 1996, 2004; Vieu 1991; Vandeloise 1988) by introducing the sub-category of “roads” in the category of “locations” and the sub-category of “pipes” in the category of “objects”. Our results suggest both the validity of the “static” ontology for “dynamic” space and the need to study dynamic spatial morphemes when classifying spatial entities in language and cognition.