Oct 20, 2026: Veera Hämäläinen

Enriching the view of path lexicalisation in satellite-framed languages: Ascending and descending Paths in Finnish, English, and translations between them

This presentation explores Path lexicalisation in ascending and descending motion in two satellite-framed languages – Finnish and English – and translations between them. The purpose of the study is, first, to compare Path lexicalisation patterns in two non-related languages that are considered to be in the same group within the Talmyan typology (e.g. Talmy, 2007), and secondly, to examine possible effects of translation on Path lexicalisation while developing suitable methods for this. The aim is to gain insight into the variation within the satellite-framed group and investigate Path lexicalisation in the context of translation by comparing source text and target text Path lexicalisation patterns in two languages with similar lexicalisation strategies available. The research questions are 1) What differences are there in Path lexicalisation in ascending and descending motion between English and Finnish? 2) How are these differences reflected in translations between the two languages?

The study builds a bridge between cognitive linguistics and translation studies through a dual approach to translations: Translations provide a specific type of data combining both lexicalisation patterns of each language and indications of the transfer process from one language system to the other. They are analysed to gain insight into the process impacting the representation of the translated language. Path lexicalisations are examined through, firstly, the concept of satellite. Secondly, the analysis is expanded to plus-ground paths to compare the variation and richness of path information.

Keywords: path lexicalisation, gravitational pull hypothesis, language typology, cognitive semantics, cognitive translation studies