Cover not available

In:Motion and Space across Languages: Theory and applications
Edited by Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano
[Human Cognitive Processing 59] 2017
► pp. 399–418

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 14
Applying language typology

Practical applications of research on typological contrasts between languages

 | University of East Anglia
Published online: 14 August 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.59.16fil
Abstract
This chapter illustrates the benefits of applying insights from language typologies in order to afford better understanding of both theoretical and practical implications of language contrasts. It examines the practical consequences of certain typological contrasts for different professional contexts of communication, such as translation, second language acquisition and teaching, and the law. For the purpose of the present volume we focus on the cognitive domain of motion. Our analysis of the relevant motion event lexicalization phenomena is based on the three central criteria that underlie the research within Applied Language Typology (ALT): (i) presence versus absence of lexical and grammatical categories, (ii) more versus less restrictive lexical and grammatical categories, and (iii) complementarity in the distribution of categories. In this chapter, we discuss a select number of examples of lexicalization of motion and dynamic spatial relations (e.g. speaker and Figure positioning) across typologically different languages and we show how the ALT criteria enable us to identify exact points where language constrasts cause practical difficulty. Finally, we suggest future directions for ALT research that benefits both academic researchers and language practitioners alike.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language typology, its relevance and applications
  • 3.Morphosyntactic typologies applied
  • 4.Applying semantic typology
  • 5.Typological applications: Forensic linguistics and translation
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (51)
References
Bastiaanse, R., Bamyaci, E., Hsu, Ch.-J., Lee, J., Yarbay Duman, T., & Thompson, C. K. 2011. Time reference in agrammatical aphasia: A cross-linguistic study. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 652–673. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cadierno, T. 2008. Motion events in Danish and Spanish: A focus on form pedagogical approach. In S. De Knop, & T. De Rycker (Eds.), Cognitive approaches to pedagogical grammar (259–294). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comrie, B. [1981] 1989. Language universals and linguistic typology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elllis, N. C. 2008. The psycholinguistic of the interaction hypothesis. In A. Mackey, & C. Polio (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on interaction in SLA: Second language research in honor of Susan M. Gass (11–40). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fausey, C. M., & Boroditsky, L. 2011. Who dunnit? Cross-linguistic differences in eye-witness memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(1), 150–157. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filipović, L. 1999. Language-specific expression of motion and its use in narrative texts. MPhil Dissertation, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2007b. Language as a witness: Insights from cognitive linguistics. Speech, Language and the Law, 14(2), 245–267.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2008. Typology in action: Applying insights from typological contrasts. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 18(1), 42–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2009. Motion events in semantic typology and eyewitness interviews. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(1), 300–313. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2010a. Typology meets witness narratives and memory: Theory and practice entwined in cognitive linguistics. In E. Tabakowska, M. Choinski, & L. Wiraszka (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics in action: Theory to application and back (269–291). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2010b. The importance of being a prefix. In V. Driagina-Hasko, & R. Perelmutter, R. (Eds.), Slavic verbs of motion (247–266). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2011. Speaking and remembering in one or two languages: Bilingual vs. monolingual lexicalization and memory for motion events. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15(4), 466–485. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013a. Typology as a continuum: Intratypological evidence from English and Serbo-Croatian. In J. Goschler, & A. Stefanowitsch (Eds.), Variation and change in the encoding of motion events (17–38). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013b. Constructing causation in language and memory: Implications for access to justice in multilingual interactions. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 20(1), 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013c. The role of language in legal contexts: A forensic cross-linguistic viewpoint. In M. Freeman, & F. Smith (Eds.), Law and language: Current legal issues (15) (328–343). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filipović, L., & Hawkins, J. A. 2013. Multiple factors in second language acquisition: The CASP model. Linguistics, 51(1), 145–176. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filipović, L., & Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I. 2015. Motion. In E. Dąbrowska, & D. Divjak (Eds.), Mouton handbook of cognitive linguistics (526–545). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filipović, L., & Vidaković, I. 2010. Typology in the L2 classroom: Second language acquisition from a typological perspective. In M. Pütz, & L. Sicola (Eds.), Inside the learner’s mind: Cognitive processing in second language acquisition (269–291). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. H. 1963. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to order of meaningful elements. In J. H. Greenberg (Ed.), Universals of language (73–113). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1966. Language universals, with special reference to feature hierarchies. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gullberg, M. 2009. Reconstructing verb meaning in a second language: How English speakers of L2 Dutch talk and gesture about placement. International Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7, 222–245.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hasko, V. 2010. The role of thinking for speaking in adult L2 speech: The case of (non)unidirectionality encoding by American learners of Russian. In Z.-H. Han, & T. Cadierno (Eds.), Linguistic relativity in SLA: Thinking for speaking (34–58), Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, J. A. 1983. Word order universals. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1994. A performance theory of order and constituency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004. Efficiency and complexity in grammars. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2014. Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, J. A., & Filipović, L. 2012. Criterial features in L2 English: Specifying the reference levels of the Common European Framework. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hijazo-Gascón, A. 2015. Acquisition of motion events in L2 Spanish by German, French and Italian speakers. Language Learning Journal. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I. 2009. Path salience in motion events. In J. Guo, E. Lieven, N. Budwig, S. Ervin-Tripp, K. Nakamura, & Ş. Özçalışkan (Eds.), Crosslinguistic approaches to the psychology of language: Research in the tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin (403–414). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2012. Placement and removal events in Basque and Spanish. In A. Kopecka, & B. Narasimhan (Eds.), The events of putting and taking. A crosslinguistic perspective (123–143). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., & Filipović, L. 2013. Lexicalization patterns and translation. In A. Rojo, & I. Ibarretxe-Antuñano (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics and translation. Advances in some theoretical models and applications (253–284). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., Cadierno, T., & Hijazo-Gascón, A. 2016. The role of force dynamics and intentionality in the reconstruction of L2 meanings: A Danish-Spanish bidirectional study. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 14(1), 136–160. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kellerman, E. 1983. Now you see it, now you don’t. In S. Gass, & L, Selinker (Eds.), Language transfer in language learning (112–134). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Majid, A., & Bowerman, M. (Eds.). 2007. Cutting and breaking events: A crosslinguistic perspective [Special Issue]. Cognitive Linguistics, 18(2). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matthews, P. H. 1995. Syntax, semantics, pragmatics. In G. Palmer (Ed.), Grammar and meaning (48–60). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moravcsik, E. 2013. Introducing language typology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Odlin, T. 1989. Language transfer. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sapir, E. 1921. Language: An introduction to the study of speech. New York: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. 1993. Awareness and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 206–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. 1996. Two ways to travel: Verbs of motion in English and Spanish. In M. Shibatani, & S. A. Thompson (Eds.), Grammatical constructions: Their form and meaning (195–220). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004. The many ways to search for a frog: Linguistic typology and the expression of motion events. In S. Strömqvist, & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Relating events in narrative: Typological and contextual perspectives (219–257). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. What makes manner of motion salient? Explorations in linguistic typology, discourse, and cognition. In M. Hickmann, & S. Robert (Eds.), Space in languages: Linguistic systems and cognitive categories (59–81). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Talmy, L. 1985. Lexicalization patterns: semantic structure in lexical form. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description. Vol. 3: Grammatical categories and the lexicon (36–149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2000. Toward a cognitive semantics. Vol. II: Typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. 2011. Sociolinguistic typology: Social determinants of linguistic complexity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trujillo, J. 2003. The difference in resulting judgments when descriptions use high-manner versus neutral-manner verbs. Senior Dissertation, University of California Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vidaković, I. 2006. Second language acquisition of dynamic spatial relations. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (13)

Cited by 13 other publications

Tosun, Sümeyra & Luna Filipović
2025. Better late than early: The effect of formal second language training on processing of evidentiality in Turkish-English bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism 29:4 ► pp. 1008 ff. DOI logo
Cifuentes-Férez, Paula
2024.  Approaching the emotional impact of loss of manner in translation: a case study on the reception of translated domestic violence testimonies . Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 56:2 ► pp. 317 ff. DOI logo
Cadierno, Teresa, Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano & Alberto Hijazo-Gascón
2023. Reconstructing the expression of placement events in Danish as a second language. Frontiers in Psychology 13 DOI logo
Filipović, Luna, Mika Brown & Paul E. Engelhardt
2023. Evidential meanings in native and learner Japanese and English. Pragmatics and Society 14:3 ► pp. 484 ff. DOI logo
Irsara, Martina
2020. Applying typological insights in a minority-language context: Motion event lexicalisations in Ladin, Italian, German and English texts compiled by Ladins. Glottodidactica 47:1 ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Hijazo-Gascón, Alberto
2019. Translating accurately or sounding natural?. Pragmatics and Society 10:1 ► pp. 72 ff. DOI logo
Hijazo-Gascón, Alberto
2021. Translating accurately or sounding natural?. In Police Interviews [Benjamins Current Topics, 118], ► pp. 73 ff. DOI logo
Filipović, Luna
2017. Applied Language Typology. Languages in Contrast 17:2 ► pp. 255 ff. DOI logo
Filipović, Luna
2019. Police interviews. Pragmatics and Society 10:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Filipović, Luna
2019. Bilingualism in Action, DOI logo
Filipović, Luna
2021. Police interviews. In Police Interviews [Benjamins Current Topics, 118], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Filipović, Luna
2022. First language versus second language effect on memory for motion events: The role of language type and proficiency. International Journal of Bilingualism 26:1 ► pp. 65 ff. DOI logo
Filipović, Luna
2025. Grammar and Applied Language Typology. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue