This paper describes the semantic contents of motion expressions in
Amharic. The study points out that the core meaning resides in the root of
verbs. Based on semantic components in verb roots, verbs of motion can be
classified as follows: (a) verbs designating motion per se (e.g.,
*tənk’əsak’k’əs-* ‘move’), (b) verbs of path e.g., *hed-* ‘go,’ *mət’t’a-*
‘come’ *lək’k’ək’- *‘leave,’ *kobəlləl-* ‘run away’), (c) figure conflated
verbs (e.g., *zənnəb-* ‘rain,’ *təffa-* ‘spit,’ *fəssəs-* ‘flow’), and (d)
manner conflated verbs (e.g., *təngʷəraddəd-* ‘move with pride and
power,’ *bərəggəg-* ‘bolt’ *wəssəss* *al-* ‘slink,’ *təgʷəttət- *‘lumber’).
Most Amharic verbs of motion are manner conflated verbs followed by path
verbs. Although the semantic component of path is lexicalized in verb
roots, the study shows that adpositions merged with nouns of a ground
entity have roles in encoding the vector and conformation components of
path. For example, the source of motion is expressed by the preposition
*tə- *‘from’; medium is indicated by the preposition *bə-* ‘through’; the
terrain is rendered by the preposition *ɨ- *‘at’; the goal of the motion is
encoded by the prepositions *wədə* ‘to’ and *ɨ- *‘to.’ Moreover, in simple
clauses of move expressions, Amharic commonly uses both satellite-framed
and verb-framed patterns. In complex clauses, it tends to use verb-framed
construction. Generally, the study claims that Amharic is typologically a
"mixed-framed" language because it uses both verb-framed and
satellite-framed constructions.
Keywords: Motion Events, Semantics, Mixed-framed, Amharic, satellite-framed,
verb-framed
