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Language Learning, Discourse and Cognition: Studies in the tradition of Andrea Tyler
Edited by Lucy Pickering and Vyvyan Evans
[Human Cognitive Processing 64] 2018
► pp. 111–130

Chapter 5
The role of embodiment in the semantic analysis of phrasal verbs

A corpus-based study

Many of the meanings of prepositions are derived from our bodily experience and conceptualization of the spatial-physical world. This study examines the relationship between frequency and embodied meaning in spatial particles. Tyler and Evans’ Principled Polysemy Model was used to analyze high and low frequency particles. The analysis shows that particles including up, out, off and over appear frequently in phrasal verbs due to a larger set of embodied experiences and a more complex semantic network associated with these particles. In contrast, low frequency particles such as through, under, into and for appear less frequently in phrasal verbs due to the nature of the embodied meanings motivating these uses. Implausible constructions such as hold under and drop up were found to be explainable by examining the basic embodied meanings of the verb and the particle.

Keywords: embodied experience, Principled Polysemy Model, spatial particles
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Analysis
    • 3.1Spatial particles of the vertical axis
    • 3.2Spatial particles with bounded LMs
    • 3.3Spatial particles of orientation
  • 4.Infrequent verb-particle constructions
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.64.06map
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Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Attardo, Salvatore & Lucy Pickering
2018. Afterword. The theoretical and applied foundations of Andrea Tyler’s approach to the study of language. In Language Learning, Discourse and Cognition [Human Cognitive Processing, 64], ► pp. 301 ff. DOI logo
Littlemore, Jeannette
2023. More on Categories: Words, Morphemes, ‘Grammar Rules’, Phonological Features, and Intonation Patterns as Radial Categories. In Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Learning and Teaching, ► pp. 57 ff. DOI logo

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