Fictive motion: Some models in cognitive linguistics

Abstract

Motion is a universal phenomenon and indispensable for human life. In everyday communication, we often use language about the motion to express motionless situations. This usage is pervasive when we are describing stationary representations. Fictive motion is a term coined by Leonard Talmy. It refers to “figurative representations of motion attributed to immobile material objects, states, or abstract concepts, in which the meaning of motion verbs is semantically extended to express relations that do not involve motion per se nor change of state.” Interest and study of fictive motion help us more insight into the use of language figuratively, thereby understanding how humans perceive motion and how they encode it linguistically. Consequently, there has been numerous research on fictive motion both inside and outside within cognitive linguistics. Therefore, this paper examines some models of fictive motion within cognitive linguistics. There are five selected models to consider in this paper: Talmy’s model, Langacker’s model, Lakoff’s model, Fauconnier & Turner’s model, and Matlock’s model. Based on the system of ideas and points formulated in each model, this paper will describe and analyze each model in three aspects: basis, content, and characteristics. Although not fully presented all fictive motion models, but with models mentioned in the paper, the results of this study, on the one hand, help linguistic professionals with a holistic and systematic view of the fictive motion in cognitive linguistics, and on the other hand, provide them with appropriate choices for using one model or another in studying fictive motion in each particular language.