3
Langacker, 2008). Accordingly, it has three main characteristics: cognitive,
social and communicative (Arnett & Jernigan, 2014).
2.2 Theoretical Framework
2.2.1 Spatial Configurations of English Prepositions
Cognitive linguists also propose that the meanings of prepositions can be
explained by the reference entity called landmark
and the mentioned object
called trajector. Herskovits (1986) provides examples to illustrate the spatial
meanings of the preposition
in. In the example
the cat in the house,
the cat is
totally contained in
the house. The cat is the trajector (TR) and
the house is the
landmark (LM).
In this situation, the meaning of the preposition
in is
prototypical as TR is totally contained in LM. In the example
the bird in the
tree, it is essential to include all the branches of the tree as LM. In this case, a
three-dimensional space should be construed,
and the meaning of the
preposition
in is non-prototypical.
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