A hitherto unnoticed type of verb-framed construction in Lithuanian and the typology of event conflation

Abstract

The article starts out from a Lithuanian construction denoting achievement of an excessive value of some parameter of an incremental event. It is verb-framed, that is, the main-clause verb denotes motion along a path towards a normative value of the parameter involved. Its implications for our understanding of the Talmyan typology of event conflation are discussed. Event conflation in the domains of spatial motion and change of state has received most attention in the literature; differences in saliency and elaboration, and the importance of constraints on the lexicalization of path (result) and manner, have been pointed out. The Lithuanian verb-framed constructions discussed here are, however, similar to those in the domain of ‘temporal contouring’ in that they involve an incremental path superimposed on the path-to-result lexicalized in the embedded predicate. This extension beyond the core domains of spatial motion and change of state represents another dimension of the Talmyan typology, largely overlooked until now.