Location, movement and information about class of subject
This is such a large group of spatial verbs that spatial verbs are sometimes called “Classifier verbs”. The handshape tells us the class of the subject and it represents the whole of the thing or person involved in the action.
These are often very difficult to translate in English.
RUN-UPSTAIRS, RUN-DOWNSTAIRS,
TOSS-AND-TURN-IN-BED
CARS-SIDE-BY-SIDE, CARS-BEHIND-EACH-OTHER, CARS-PASSING-IN-FRONT
In these examples the handshape has a meaning and so does the location and so does the movement, but these meanings are only revealed when they are all put together.
Need some help?
