Liikkeen kielentämisen variaatio lähisukukielissä: Väylän alun ja lopun ilmaisu suomessa ja virossa

This article discusses the ways Finnish and Estonian speakers express the beginning and end of path in translocative motion situations. Special attention is paid to boundary-crossing situations that are central in the typological research of motion expressions: the figure entering (e.g. A boy steps into a cave) or exiting (e.g. A boy steps out of a cave) a bounded space. This article observes, first, how unanimously these meanings become expressed in general, and second, what kind of linguistic resources are used in the expressions.

In the typology of motion expressions, Finno-Ugric languages have been classified as satellite-framed, but empirical evidence on this matter has rarely been discussed in the literature. In general, synthetic case languages have played a marginal role in motion typology. This article concentrates on the typologically central categories, that is, verbs and satellite elements, in Finnish and Estonian.

The data have been collected with an elicitation grid, which enables a systematic comparison between the languages in question and with respect to the visual stimuli. The analysis shows that the ends and beginnings of path, especially the ones with boundary-crossing, tend to be rather unanimously expressed in Finnish and Estonian. However, there are considerable differences in the linguistic resources used. Neither of the languages can unequivocally be classified as satellite-framed. In Estonian, satellite-like elements, such as välja ‘out’, are used more than in Finnish. The speakers of Finnish, on the other hand, are more likely to express the Manner of motion in verbs, which has typically been connected to satellite-framed languages. In both languages, the role of deictic motion verbs in boundary-crossing contexts is notable, and the analysis reveals intricate differences between these verbs in Finnish and Estonian.