IMpenetrable boundary that prevents further motion by the mover, or a penetrable one. So we split these up into two subcases.
3.1.1 Motion verbs with mover going towards an
IM
penetrable LM boundary
Example 16 shows the intransitive motion verb bilo ‘fall’ with the SPG schema. The boy has been hit hard by a hostile man, and he falls onto the ground. The
impenetrability of the LM boundary is due to the relative properties of the ground hard and the boy’s body soft. The motion ends at the LM boundary.
16
‘He the boy falls
ONTO
the ground.’ Tumbo 2:3
3.1.1.1 Intransitive motions where the closeness of the source or goal to the LM boundary is relevant
We have already noted that with preposition ri the idea of closeness to the boundary is important, illustrated here by 17 and 18.
Example 17 has the intransitive motion verb nkye ‘come’ and the SPG schema. The LM boundary here is a surface, ‘the side of the body’, and the
subject-mover gets to a point almost in contact with that surface.
17
‘He came
ALONGSIDE
Gyelo’s body.’ Kpagara 2.27
Example 18 has the intransitive motion verb dogɔ ‘come out’ and the SPG schema. Note that the motion verb dogɔ ‘come out’ is embedded in a relative
clause. The mover is the grey gazelle, the subject of the relative clause.
18
‘We see a grey gazelle who comes out right
IN
front of our faces’, i.e., ‘We see a grey gazelle which comes out right in front of us.’ Kubi 1.4
Example 19 has the transitive motion verb bemɛ ‘throw’, the SPG schema, and two sub-trajectors. The speaker is a hunter who has just caught a gazelle. He
has picked up the gazelle and thrown it onto the ground. Clearly the ground is not penetrable to the body of the gazelle. The motion has two sub-trajectories,
. mpɔmbi
0- mpɔmbi
NC9 face
sɔgi sɔgi
before
ri ri
IN
beɔ beɔ
1pl
OBJ
dogɔ dogɔ
come out
nyɛ nyɛ
3sg.
REL
kubi 0- kubi
NC1 grey gazelle
bɛɛ bɛɛ
see
hɛ hɛ
1pl
PST
. Gyɛlɔ
Gyɛlɔ
Gyelo
mi mi
of
nyoli nyoli
body
nɛ nɛ
COMP
mbea mbea
side
ri ri
ABOUT
nkye nkye
come
à à
3sg.
PST
, mɛtɛgɔ
mɛ- tɛgɔ
NC6 earth
ri ri
ONTO
bilɔ bilɔ
fall
A a
3sg
where the first sub-trajectory profiles the subject holding onto the gazelle and imparting momentum to it, and second sub-trajectory profiles the gazelle falling
to the ground. The motion ends with the gazelle in contact with the ground LM, hence the translation of ri as ‘onto’. The goal is
ON
the boundary itself.
19
‘I throw him the gazelle
ONTO
the ground.’ Kubi 1.8
3.1.2 Motion verbs with mover and
PENETRABLE
LM:
Next we deal with the cases where the goal-LM has a boundary that is penetrable by the mover. The motion is directed
TOWARDS
the LM area, i.e., towards a
GOAL
, and the mover penetrates the boundary of the LM entity. Such situations presuppose that the mover starts its motion at a point
OUTSIDE
the LM area. In 20 and 21 the verbs are transitive verbs of motion, and the object of
the verb is the mover. Example 20 has the transitive motion verb lung ‘plunge’, the SPG schema,
and two sub-trajectories. The subject has taken a person’s body and thrown it away lung ‘plunge’ into the forest. The boundaries of the LM, the forest, are
penetrable to the mover which is the human body that has been thrown. The
goal, the endpoint of the trajectory, is beyond the LM boundary.
20
‘He threw away plunged his body
INTO
the forest.’ Tumbo 4.3
Example 21 has the transitive motion verb lumɔ ‘shoot at’, the SPG schema, and two sub-trajectories. The verb is a kind of transitive motion verb. There is
motion here, but mover is neither the subject nor the object. We can see what the mover is by looking at the preceding context: he hid his knife in its sheath,
he began to chase that drunken man. The mover here is the thrown knife, and a moving knife can easily penetrate the back of the drunken man, a human
person. We have a SPG schema, and the goal is on the other side of the boundary of the LM, i.e., the skin of the body is the LM.
21
he shoot:at him
INTO
back with a knife literally he shoots at him
INTO
his back. free: ‘He shoots the knife
INTO
the drunken man’s back.’ Tumbo 4.2
kɔng kɔng
back
ri ri
INTO
nyɛ nyɛ
3sg.
OBJ
lumɔ lumɔ
shoot at
a a
3sg
. digi
digi
forest
ri ri
INTO
nyɛ nyɛ
3sg. POSS
nyoli nyoli
body
lung lung
plunge
a a
3sg
mɛtɛgɔ mɛ- tɛgɔ
NC6 earth
ri ri
ONTO
nyɛ nyɛ
3ps
OBJ
bemɔ bemɔ
throw
mɛ mɛ
1ps pst
3.1.3 Movers which are directed
AWAY FROM
the LM i.e., from a
SOURCE
Next we deal with movers that are directed
AWAY FROM
the LM entity, i.e., from a source. The LM itself could be a point, a surface, or a container. If the source is a
container, then the origin of the motion would be a point
INSIDE
the container LM. And again, the penetrability of the boundary of the container would be
important. Example 22 has the transitive motion verb dagi ‘snatch’, the SPG schema,
and a single trajectory.
22
‘Warthog has snatched Gyelo
FROM
within the arms of tortoise.’ Kuli 1.28
Example 23 has the transitive motion verb dui ‘remove’, the SPG schema, and a single trajectory. Here again we have a boundary invoked with the usage
of ri. The boundary is between death and life. The ri+death PP means that the immediate neighbourhood of death. The speaker is saying to the hearer that he
the hearer has taken the child from the immediate neighbourhood of death right back into the realm of life. The speaker has not meant that the child has
actually been removed across the boundary from death back into the realm of life. In fact, the preceding context tells us that the child had not previously died.
23
‘You have removed my child
FROM
death.’ Kpagara 2.45
Concerning the semantics of dui glossed here as ‘remove’, there are examples of the use of this verb in the purely physical domain. For example, in the butchering
of an animal for food, we have dui kondɔ ‘remove skin’ meaning ‘to skin an animal’ and dui biwiɔ ‘remove bones’ meaning to ‘take the bones out of a piece of meat’.
3.2 Actions localised over the boundary of the LM
Here we deal with actions that are localised over the boundary of the LM entity. Such actions need to be distinguished from the kind of actions that we dealt
with in 1 to 8, and 17 to 24. Those actions were directed either towards or away from the LM entity and were by no means localised over the LM
boundary. Here, if the LM entity is physical, then there are various different possibilities for the dimensionality of that boundary. Thus, that boundary could
be a surface 2D or a line 1D. The idea of closeness or contact i.e., the logical limit of closeness is still maintained. Again the ri does not regard the LM as a
asoe asoe
death
ri ri
FROM
mɛbɔ mɛbɔ
NC
6.arm
am am
NC
1.1sg.
POSS
mɔn mɔn
NC
1.child
dui dui
remove
aa aa
2sg.
PERF
kuli kuli
NC
1.tortoise
mi mi
OF
mɛbɔ mɛbɔ
NC
6.arm
ri ri
FROM
Gyɛlɔ Gyɛlɔ
Gyelo
dagi dagi
snatch
aa aa
3sg.
PERF
.
nkoe nkoe
warthog
