Читать книгу Multiple Preverbs in Ancient Indo-European Languages - Chiara Zanchi - Страница 17

The concept of profile is introduced by Langacker (1987) by means of the word spoke. In order to understand the meaning of spoke, Langacker writes, one must also be aware of what a wheel is. The segment spoke is defined in relation with the structure of the whole wheel. Langacker describes the relation holding between the spoke and the wheel as the relation of a “profile” of a concept with respect to its “base”. The profile is the precise and narrow concept expressed by a word, whereas the base can be defined as the encyclopedic knowledge or conceptual structure presupposed by the said word.1

As Croft (1993) points out, the profile and the base comprise an inseparable pair: a profile needs a base against which it is individuated. Symmetrically, a base cannot be individuated without the profiles that are defined with respect to it. The verb “to profile” corresponds to the noun “profile”. Thus, both these formulations are possible: spoke functions as a profile of the base wheel, or spoke profiles a certain part of the base wheel. In a similar way, the meaning of wheel is also the base for hub and rim, as shown in Figure 1 below:

Fig. 1: The profile-base asymmetry: wheel vs. spoke, rim, wheel (from Langacker 2008: 67)

An expression can profile either a thing, as in Figure 1, or a relationship. Therefore, the concept of profile can also be employed to describe spatial and non-spatial relations and thus the meaning of preverbs. For example, the Homeric motion verb eis-ana-baínō ‘go up to’ profiles the movement of an entity going along a trajectory in a certain direction. This verb contains two preverbs: the former, eis- ‘to’, profiles the direction of motion (Goal); the latter, ana- ‘up’, instead profiles its orientation and Path, specifying that the verb indicates an upward motion. The whole spatial relation expressed by the compound eis-ana-baínō implies that there are a path, an entity that moves along that path, and an entity to be reached, which constitute the basis of the spatial relation.