riety of contexts:
(7) Helen sank into water/mud/an armchair.
However, we postulate that the verbs dart, dive and sink prototypically describe movement in a given medium: dart is prototypically associated with air , and dive and sink with water. Our claim is supported by the fact that the medium parameter need not be syntactically present:
(8) She dived from the bridge and rescued the drowning child. p> (9) The aircraft-carrier, hit by a torpedo, sank at once.
Further, as we will show below, sink has a metaphorical projection onto FEELING, which codifies the metaphor Emotion = Liquid (Goatly 1997):
(10) When he crashed, his heart sank at the thought that he might die. br/>
Finally, glide refers to quiet/smooth movement in a wide range of contexts (water, air, land):
(11) The cruiser glided across the sea.
(12) An owl glided over the fields.
(13) The snake glided towards its prey.
As mentioned above, the domain of MOVEMENT is marked by the semantic parameter of direction, which can determine verb membership. The lexemes jump, vault, leap, hop and spring are subsumed under various subdomains depending on whether they denote forward or upward/downward movement over an obstacle:
VERB
DIRECTION
DIMENSION
MEANING
Jump
Vault
Leap
Hop
В
Spring
Forwards
В В
To move forwards quickly/suddenly
To move forwards quickly using your legs
To jump onto sth with your hands on it
To jump energetically a long distance
To jump on one foot (sb)/with both feet (birds/small animals)
To jump suddenly
Jump
Vault
Leap
Over sth
To move across/over/
through
To move over sth quickly using your legs
To jump over sth with your hands on it
To jump over sth energetically
Jump
Spring
Hop
Up/Down
To move up/down using one ' s feet
To move up/down quickly using one's feet
To jump suddenly
To jump on one leg
(14) Robert jumped one metre/over the fence/out of the shadow.
(15) Carol sprang at him/to her feet.
Finally, as shown below, verb membership can also be determined by the parameter describing the nature of the subject or object.
ARGUMENT
SEMANTIC SCOPE
VERB
DIMENSION
MEANING
Human/
Object
shake
В
tremble
quiver
To move from side to side/back and forth/up and down repeatedly
To move quickly from side to side/up and down
To shake un-controllably/slightly
To shake slightly
Part of the body
shake
В
tremble
quiver
В
To move one ' s body
To move one's body quickly from side to side/up and down
To shake un-controllably/slightly
To shake slightly
Subject
Human
Boat
sail
To move towards a place
To move over liquid
To travel to a place by ship
To move (boat) over the sea
Object
r...
