Location, condition, or value. May be abstract.

The Locus may be a part of another scene argument: part of a figure whose static orientation is described, or a focal part of a ground where contact with the figure occurs:1

  • She was lying on her back. 010

  • She kissed me on the cheek. 011

  • I want to punch you in the face. 012

Words that incorporate a kind of reference point are Locus even without an overt object:

Locus also applies to in, out, off, away, back, etc. when used to describe a location without an overt object:

And to around meaning ‘nearby’ or ‘in the area’:

In a phenomenon called fictive motion (Talmy, 1996), dynamic language may be used to describe static scenes. We use construal for these:

Construal is also used for prepositions licensed by scalar adjectives of distance, #029, and prepositions used with a cardinal direction, #031:

See also LocusDirection for static distance measurements, described under Direction.

Qualitative states are analyzed as MannerLocus, as described under Manner.


  1. PartPortion was considered but rejected for these cases. Instead we assume the verb semantics would stipulate that it licenses a Theme as well as a (core) Locus which must be a part of that Theme

  2. The scene establishes a static spatial arrangement of John, Mary, and the window/fence, with only metaphorical motion. Yet this is a non-prototypical Locus: it cannot be questioned with Where?, for example. Moreover, we understand from the scene that the object of the preposition is something with respect to which the viewer is navigating in order to see without obstruction. 

Category Members (0)

Supercategory: Circumstance

Subcategories

Metadata