Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hamilton, Michael

Abstract

Talmy (2007) was the first to propose a language typology based on the lexicalization patterns of motion verbs. According to his typology, certain languages tend to encode certain elements within the main verb of motion event descriptions. It has been proposed that Spanish and English exist on opposites sides of this typology and Slobin (1996 & 2006) speculates these structural differences may affect what aspects of external events are more salient to speakers of these languages. The present study investigates the verbal and nonverbal behavior of English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals to see if any differences exist in the aspects of the motion event that they describe in an elicitation task or prefer in a similarity judgement task. This study provides evidence that Spanish-English bilinguals may be less likely to encode manner when speaking in English. The present study provides no evidence that this extends to nonverbal behavior as all groups showed a preference for categorizing motion events based on the manner (e.g., run, walk, crawl, etc.) of motion rather than the path (up, down, left, right, etc.).

Extent

75 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2023.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00014159

Format

pdf

Download

Share

COinS