On Meanings and Usages of Path Prepositions

对英语中路径介词的语义考察表明，路径介词短语[PnP]具有以下语义特征：(A)轨迹路径包含在地标NP内；(B)介词P表示相对于地标的有向运动路线；(C)轨迹路径的走向取决于地标的几何描述；(D)地标具有通过功能。通过路径介词的语法性质和人类认知规律的共同作用，还揭示了一个新的路径介词短语[out NP]经过几个发展阶段被动态引入语法，介词穿越的原型移动路径线延伸成不同形状的移动路径线，保持了[A]-[D]的所有属性不变。

Semantic investigation of Path Prepositions in English has revealed that Path Prepositional phrase[PNP] such as up/down the tree, along the river, around the ground, across the street, through the tunnel, has the following semantic properties :(a)The trajectory Path is contained within the Landmark NP,(b)The preposition P expresses a directed line of motion with respect to the Landmark,(c)The way the trajectory Path goes depends on geometric description of the Landmark, and(d)The landmark functions as Passage. Through the cooperation of both the grammatical properties of Path Prepositions and human cognitive principles, it was also revealed that a novel path prepositional phrase[out NP] is introduced into the grammar dynamically through a few developing stages, and that the prototypical moving path line of the preposition across is extended into different shapes of moving lines, maintaining all the properties[A]-[D] without change.