DETERMINING LANGUAGE TYPOLOGY BASED ON DIRECTED MOTION LEXICALIZATION PATTERNS AS A LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION: A CASE STUDY ON JAVANESE

Abstract

Every language has directed motion constructions, but the lexicalization pattern of the constructions may differ from one language to another. The similarities and differences of directed motion lexicalization patterns can be used as the basis for classifying languages typologically. This paper aims to discuss how language typology can be determined based on directed motion lexicalization patterns found in a language. In this study I use the data of Javanese to examine whether Javanese can be classified into Talmy’s (1975, 1985) typology of verb-framed or satellite framed languages. Some problems and implications of this language typology will be discussed to see whether there is interaction between directed motion lexicalization patterns and other syntactic structures. The data of Javanese show that Javanese has some verb framing and satellite framing characteristics, and so language typology is not exactly definite in the sense that there are some restrictions that need to be considered.