Ce travail porte sur l’inscription de la notion extralinguistique de mouvement dans deux langues typologiquement différentes, et examine l’impact de ces différences sur les premiers développements langagiers. Les travaux récents sur la question montrent en effet qu’il existe des contraintes proprement linguistiques, en plus de contraintes générales liées à l’empreinte particulière qu’apporte la perception de l’espace et du mouvement à la cognition. Notre objectif est d’analyser la place de ces contraintes dans l’acquisition du langage, à partir de suivis longitudinaux d’enfants francophones et anglophones filmés dès les débuts du langage. Nous présentons d’abord plusieurs illustrations des hypothèses sur la précocité du mouvement, repérées dans les premières formes de communication : celles-ci dessinent des liens très précoces entre mouvement et langage, qui ne semblent pas dépendre de la langue adressée à l’enfant. Nous nous penchons ensuite sur l’impact des contraintes proprement linguistiques, que l’expression du déplacement fait apparaître. L’analyse du discours adressé à l’enfant permet de souligner l’importance des contextes de production, et de variations reflétant des choix énonciatifs différents : leur prise en compte atténue les différences inter-langues observées dans la littérature. Cependant, des contrastes plus marqués apparaissent dans les premières expressions du déplacement : ils montrent une prise en compte précoce des contraintes linguistiques. L’analyse de l’expression du déplacement en français révèle aussi une focalisation peut-être excessive de la typologie sémantique sur les valeurs spatiales. Pour montrer que la prise en compte des valeurs non spatiales importe y compris pour l’analyse de l’anglais, nous interrogeons l’articulation des valeurs spatiales et non spatiales dans l’acquisition des premières constructions, à partir d’un des premiers marqueurs utilisés par les enfants anglophones : up. / This dissertation starts from the expression of motion (an extralinguistic notion) in two typologically different languages, and analyses the impact of those differences in early language acquisition. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of linguistic constraints, in addition to general constraints linking our perception of space and motion with general cognitive processes. Our aim is to situate those constraints within a general understanding of first language acquisition: this will be achieved through analyses of longitudinal follow-ups of French and English-speaking children from early communication onwards. We start by isolating and discussing some features of early communication in which the primacy of motion is best illustrated. They are evidence for the existence of early links between motion and language, which do not seem to depend on the characteristics of the language acquired. We then examine the impact of linguistic constraints, as they appear in the expression of location changes. Child-directed speech shows important variations in context, but also in each speaker’s linguistic choices and strategies: cross-linguistic differences thus need to be reconsidered. However, more marked contrasts are seen in how children first express location changes: they are evidence for an early integration of linguistic constraints. Our analyses also underline the overrated status of spatial semantics in typology and cross-linguistic comparisons. In order to show that non spatial meaning matters, we finally question how both spatial and non-spatial semantics are implied in the acquisition of syntactic constructions with one of the first markers used by English-speaking children: up.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate lexical replacement processes from several complementary perspectives. It does so through three studies, each with a different scope and time depth. The first study (chapter 3) takes a high time depth perspective and investigates factors that affect the rate (likelihood) of lexical replacement in the core vocabulary of 98 Indo-European language varieties through a multiple linear regression model. The chapter shows that the following factors predict part of the rate of lexical replacement for non-grammatical concepts: frequency, the number of synonyms and senses, and how imageable the concept is in the mind. What looks like a straightforward lexical replacement at a high time depth perspective is better understood as several intertwined gradual processes of lexical change at lower time depths. The second study (chapter 5) narrows the focus to seven closely-related Germanic language varieties (English, German, Bernese, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic) and a single semantic domain, namely color.  The chapter charts several lexical replacement and change processes in the pink and purple area of color space through experiments with 146 speakers. The third study (chapter 6) narrows the focus even more, to two generations of speakers of a single language, Swedish. It combines experimental data on how the two age groups partition and label the color space in general, and pink and purple in particular, with more detailed data on lexical replacement and change from interviews, color descriptions in historical and contemporary dictionaries, as well as botanical lexicons, and historical fiction corpora. This thesis makes a descriptive, methodological and theoretical contribution to the study of lexical replacement. Taken together, the different perspectives highlight the usefulness of method triangulation in approaching the complex phenomenon of lexical replacement.

Semantic typology and categorization are important fields of research in linguistics. The aim of our work is to inspect these fields in regard to bilingualism. In this thesis we examine semantic categorization of body parts among four different groups of people: monolingual English speakers, monolingual Russian speakers, bilingual Russian speakers answering in English and bilingual Russian speakers answering in Russian. The hierarchies, ambiguities in naming patterns and homology were in the center of this study. The groups were also compared to each other in order to observe the effects of the first language learned (L1) and the second language learned (L2) on bilinguals. The results showed that Russian L1 bilinguals answering the Russian questionnaire displayed the same results as the Russian monolinguals, indicating a lack of influence from the L2. The Russian L1 bilinguals answering the English questionnaire used a semantic categorization most similar to their L1 and also demonstrated a broadening of the semantic categories related to neither the L1 nor the L2.

This semantic typology study investigates the intentionality of causation event descriptions of ten native British English speakers (NBES) and ten native Castilian Spanish speakers (NCSS). Through a methodology that implements a picture story as non-verbal stimuli and verbal event descriptions, statistical data are gathered on the form and function of the participants’ descriptions. Inferred and inscribed characteristics of constructions are collected through a description task, a narration task, and a post-task interview. The results show that the NBES participants consistently were more varied in their choice of constructions, especially when the picture showed or implied an accidental action in the causation event. The frequent use of all constructions for a single picture might indicate that English does not provide a clear means for expressing what speakers want to voice in terms of intentionality. The functional characteristics attributed to the constructions were for the NCSS participants more unified than the NBES participants; all the Spanish constructions demonstrated a clear representing majority characteristic. Having more fine-grained distinctions to represent intentionality, as the NCSS participants have at their disposal, could potentially lead to less constructional variation, as there are options available to speakers for expressing the right intention with the use of a more specific construction. These fine-grained constructions also likely provide the speakers with more certainty in their judgements since they do not need to select a construction ad hoc that best fits the described event. / Denna semantiska typologistudie undersöker intentionaliteten i beskrivningar av orsakshändelser av tio infödda brittiska engelsktalande (NBES) och tio infödda kastilianska spansktalande (NCSS). Genom en metod som implementerar en bildberättelse som icke-verbala stimuli och verbala händelsebeskrivningar samlas statistiska data om formen och funktionen för deltagarnas beskrivningar. Uttydda och inskrivna egenskaper hos konstruktioner samlas genom en beskrivningsuppgift, en berättandeuppgift och en intervju. Resultaten visar att NBES-deltagarna konsekvent var mer varierade i deras val av konstruktioner, särskilt när bilden visade eller antydde en oavsiktlig handling i orsakssammanhanget. Den frekventa användningen av alla konstruktioner för en enskild bild kan tyda på att engelska inte ger ett tydligt sätt att uttrycka vad talare vill uttrycka i termer av avsikt. De funktionella egenskaperna som tillskrivs konstruktionerna var för NCSS-deltagarna mer enhetliga än NBES-deltagarna; alla de spanska konstruktionerna visade en tydlig representativ majoritetsegenskap. Att ha mer detaljerade skillnader för att representera avsiktlighet, som NCSS-deltagarna har till sitt förfogande, kan potentiellt leda till mindre konstruktionsvariation, eftersom det finns alternativ tillgängliga för talare för att uttrycka rätt avsikt med användning av en mer specifik konstruktion. Dessa finkorniga konstruktioner ger sannolikt också talarna större säkerhet i sina bedömningar eftersom de inte behöver välja en konstruktion ad hoc som bäst passar den beskrivna händelsen.

Les recherches qui se sont intéressées à l’étude des événements de mouvement ont démontré que, pour les coder, les langues utilisent des stratégies de lexicalisation différentes. Selon la proposition de Talmy (1985), les langues romanes correspondent au type ‘verb-framed’(VF), tandis que les langues germaniques sont considérées ‘satellite-framed’(SF). Cette classification qui permet d’identifier des distinctions intéressantes au niveau macro-typologique, mais sa rigidité ne consent pas d’observer la variabilité inter- et intra-typologiques. La thèse étude les événements de mouvement de deux perspectives complémentaires. D’un côté, du point de vue de la typologie, on observe les différences existantes entre les langues appartenant au même groupes typologique et à la même famille génétique. De l’autre côté, du point de vue acquisitionnel, on analyse l’impact des facteurs typologiques sur l’acquisition du français L2 chez apprenants italophones. Dans ce but, on a été construit un corpus de productions sur la base d’un support qui montre des mouvements volontaires et provoqués soumis auprès quatre groupes d’informateurs: deux groupes de natifs (francophones et italophones) et deux groupes d’italophones apprenant le français L2 de deux niveaux de compétence. Les résultats montrent qu’il y a des différences intratypologiques entre les langues génétiquement proches, comme l’italien et le français. De même, ces mêmes différences intratypologiques engendrent des transfert en influençant la restructuration du penser pour parler. / Recent research is interested in studying motion events in different languages by showing that, they follow different lexicalization strategies to code motion events. In light of Talmy’s proposal (1985), romance languages are classified as ‘verb-framed’ (VF), while the Germanic ones are considered as ‘satellite-framed’ (SF). The Talmy’s classification legitimated a large number of studies that confirm the validity of this dichotomy, which is the identification of interesting distinctions on a macro-typological level. Nevertheless its rigidity does not allow to observe the inter- and intra-typological variability. The study investigates motion events from two complementary perspectives. On the one hand, the differences within languages of the same typological group and the same genetic family are observed from the point of view of the semantic type On the other hand, the impact of typological factors on French acquisition as L2 by Italian speakers is analyzed from the acquisitional point of view. For this purpose, a corpus of productions was collected in a controlled situation on the basis of a support containing voluntary and caused movements submitted to four groups of informants: two groups of native (French and Italian speakers) and two groups of Italian learners of French L2 of two different skill levels. The results show that there are differences between intra-typological languages which are genetically very close, such as Italian and French. Similarly, these same intra-typological languages generate some transfer that influences the restructuring of thinking for speaking. / Le recenti ricerche in psicolinguistica e in linguistica cognitiva si sono interessate allo studiodegli eventi di movimento in diverse lingue del mondo dimostrando che, per codificare glieventi di movimento, le lingue seguono strategie di lessicalizzazione differenti. Alla luce dellaproposta di Talmy (1985, 2000), le lingue romanze sono classificate nel tipo ‘verb-framed’(VF), ovvero a quadro verbale, mentre le lingue germaniche sono considerate ‘satelliteframed’(SF), ossia lingue a quadro satellitare. I due tipi si differenziano essenzialmente per ildiverso locus di codifica delle componenti semantiche: le lingue a quadro verbale, come ilfrancese e l’italiano, tendono a lessicalizzare l’informazione semantica della Traiettoria nelverbo principale, mentre la Maniera è omessa o espressa in una proposizione subordinata.Invece, le lingue a quadro satellitare come l’inglese, esprimono la Maniera nella radiceverbale e la Traiettoria mediante dei satelliti, ovvero degli elementi associati al verbo(avverbi, prefissi, particelle, etc). La classificazione di Talmy ha giustificato un gran numerodi studi che hanno confermato la validità di questa dicotomia, che permette di individuaredelle interessanti distinzioni a livello macro-tipologico, ma la sua rigidità non consente diosservare la variabilità inter- e intratipologica (Ibarretxe-Antuñano, 2004b,d, 2009a; Slobin,2004). La variabilità tipologica che le lingue mostrano nella concettualizzazione degli eventidi movimento, condiziona il modo in cui i locutori selezionano le informazioni semantiche(Traiettoria e Maniera) e, di conseguenza, il modo in cui un apprendente esprime lecomponenti di un evento di movimento in L2. La tesi studia gli eventi di movimento da dueprospettive complementari. Da un lato, dal punto di vista della tipologia semantica, siosservano le differenze esistenti tra le lingue appartenenti allo stesso gruppo tipologico e allastessa famiglia genetica. Dall’altro lato, dal punto di vista acquisizionale, si analizza l’impattodei fattori tipologici sull’acquisizione del francese L2 di apprendenti italofoni. A questoscopo, è stato costruito un corpus di produzioni raccolte in una situazione controllata sullabase di un supporto che mostra dei movimenti volontari e provocati sottoposti a quattrogruppi di informatori: due gruppi di informatori nativi (francofoni e italofoni) e due gruppi diapprendenti italofoni di francese L2 di due livelli di competenza (intermedio e avanzato).I risultati mostrano che vi sono delle differenze intratipologiche tra lingue geneticamentemolto vicine, come l’italiano e il francese. Analogamente, queste stesse differenze intratipologiche generano dei transfert influenzando la ristrutturazione del pensare perparlare.

This thesis is about whether language affects thinking. It deals with the linguistic relativity hypothesis, which proposes that the language we speak influences the way we think. This hypothesis is investigated in the domain of caused motion (e.g., ‘The man rolled the tyre into the garage’), by looking at Spanish and Swedish, two languages that show striking differences in how motion events are encoded. The thesis consists of four studies. The first two focus on native speakers of Spanish and Swedish. Study I compares how Spanish and Swedish speakers describe the same set of caused motion events, directing the spotlight at how variable the descriptions are in each language. The results confirm earlier findings from semantic typology regarding the dominant ways of expressing the events in each language: Spanish behaves like a verb-framed language and Swedish like a satellite-framed language (Talmy, 2000). Going beyond previous findings, the study demonstrates—using the tools of entropy and Monte Carlo simulations—that there is markedly more variability in Spanish than in Swedish descriptions. Study II tests whether differences in how Spanish and Swedish speakers describe caused motion events are reflected in how they think about such events. Using a novel similarity arrangement task, it is found that Spanish and Swedish speakers partly differ in how they represent caused motion events if they can access language during the task. However, the differences disappear when the possibility to use language is momentarily blocked by an interference task. The last two studies focus on Swedish learners of Spanish as a second language (L2). Study III explores how Swedish learners (compared to native Spanish speakers) adapt their Spanish motion descriptions to recently encountered input. Using insights from the literature on structural priming, we find that Swedish learners initially expect to encounter in their L2, Spanish, those verb types that are typical in Swedish (manner verbs like ‘roll’) but that, with increasing proficiency, their expectations become increasingly attuned to the typical Spanish pattern of using path verbs (like ‘enter’).  These expectations are reflected in the way L2 learners adapt their own production to the Spanish input. Study IV asks whether recent linguistic experience in an L2 can affect how L2 learners think about motion events. It is found that encountering motion descriptions in the L2 that emphasize different types of information (path or manner) leads L2 speakers to perceive similarity along different dimensions in a subsequent similarity arrangement task. Taken together, the thesis argues that the study of the relation between language and thought affords more valuable insights when not posed as an either-or question (i.e., does language affect thought or not?). In this spirit, the thesis contributes to the wider aim of investigating the conditions under which language does or does not affect thought and explores what the different outcomes tell us about language, thought, and the intricate mechanisms that relate them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>