KUIDAS HORISONTAALNE JA VERTIKAALNE LIIKUMISSUUND EESTI KEELES ASPEKTIKS KEHASTUVAD?
Embodiment of the Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions in Estonian Aspect

Summary/Abstract: In this paper we discuss a hypothesis about how the horizontal and vertical dimensions are represented in language use. We believe that there are significant differences between the horizontal and vertical orientations in human cognition and this difference should also be reflected in potential aspectual meanings of the relevant verbal particles. The horizontal dimension is primarily associated with motion (as horizontal motion is the most common for a human being) and the horizontal particle indeed tends to elaborate on some aspect of motion. Vertical motion being less common, the vertical dimension relates primarily to orientation and relations between objects. For analysis we chose six Estonian verbal particles with a primary directional meaning: three horizontal ones – edasi ’on’, tagasi ’back’, ette ’ahead’, and three vertical ones – üles ’up’, alla ’downwards’, maha ’down’. Aspectual meanings of the Estonian verbal particles are as follows: (a) The only aspectual meaning in the vertical dimension was perfectivity: üles leidma ’find’, üles tunnistama ’confess’; maha sõitma ’drive (a distance)’. (The vertical particles are typically used in orientational metaphors.) (b) The horizontal particles in Estonian phrasal verbs have the following aspectual meanings: i) continuation: edasi sööma ’eat on’; ii) repetition: edasi müüma ’resell’, tagasi ilmuma ’reappear’; and iii) reversal: tagasi pöörama ’turn back’. Thus, along the vertical dimension an action can only be finished, while along the horizontal dimension actions may go on, change or be reversed.

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