Motion Verbs in English Narratives: Is Manner Always the Most Frequent Verb Type?

Abstract

This pilot study examines the variety (types) and frequency (tokens) of manner-of- motion verbs in English, as a source and target language in translation. Building upon Talmy's (2000) binary classification, in which languages are divided into verb-framed or satellite-framed depending on the way they express path, this investigation examines manner-of-motion verb types and tokens in English as a Source Language (ESL) and English as a Target Language (ETL). Results from this investigation corroborated that manner-of-motion verb types are more frequent than the rest, as stated by Slobin (2005). Nonetheless, while previous research by Slobin (2004) suggests a higher frequency of manner-of-motion verb tokens as well, evidence collected in the present study indicates the opposite, with path verbs representing 46% of the total tokens in ESL and 54% in ETL, contrasting with the 32% and 26% respectively of manner-of- motion verbs.