2.1. The Directed Motion Event

A directed motion event refers to a situation in which an object, the figure, moves with regards to a reference point, the ground, following a trajectory, the path.¹  In many situations there is more than one relevant reference point. Typically, these reference points (or grounds) are components of the path, namely the source (or origin) of the path, the goal (or end-point), a milestone (a salient feature along the path), or even the medium making up the path. Apart from these internal components, a motion event can also be accompanied by other events which reflect the manner or even the cause of the movement. In that case, the directed motion will be referred to as the framing event and the manner or cause of movement will be considered a supporting event.

NOTAS

1  Other authors within the Cognitive Linguistics tradition have used different terms for what Talmy calls Figure and Ground. Ronald Langacker, for example, uses trajector and landmark.