Space Lexicalized: Its Linguistic Impacts in English and Its Implications for EFL Learning

Our sense of space is part of our experiential universals. However, the incorporation of space into words differs across languages. This paper argues that "space" is lexicalized in English but not in Indonesian. English encodes the sense of location and direction into "adverbial parti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTEFLIN journal Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 9 - 26
Main Author Kadarisman, A. Effendi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Malang Association for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia (TEFLIN) 01.02.2010
State University of Malang, English Department, Faculty of Letters
Subjects
Adverbials
Atoms & subatomic particles
Contrastive Linguistics
English
English (Second Language)
English as a second language learning
English Language Learners
Form Classes (Languages)
Function words
Gumperz, John
Hypotheses
Indonesian
Indonesian language
Language
Learning Problems
Levinson, Stephen
Linguistics
Native Speakers
Phrasal verbs
Phrase Structure
Prepositions
Saussure, Ferdinand de
Second Language Instruction
Second Language Learning
Space
Statistical Analysis
Syntax
Verbs
Word meaning
New York
United States > US
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Summary:Our sense of space is part of our experiential universals. However, the incorporation of space into words differs across languages. This paper argues that "space" is lexicalized in English but not in Indonesian. English encodes the sense of location and direction into "adverbial particles," producing language-specific expressions. Together with prepositions, adverbial particles also combine with simple verbs producing "phrasal verbs" and making a highly familiar verb expand itself into a huge range of meanings. Furthermore, the unique syntactic behavior of phrasal verbs is assumed to be the motivation for the phenomenon of "prepositional stranding" in English. The enormous presence of adverbial particles in English and their absence in Indonesian could be problematic for Indonesian EFL learners. This problem can be viewed from two perspectives: inward and outward.
ISSN:0215-773X
2356-2641