Evans Vyvyan, Tyler Andrea. Rethinking English ‘Prepositions of Movement’. The Case of To and Through

// In.: W. de Mulder and T. Mortelmans (eds.), Adpositions of Movement. — Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004. — pp. 247-
270. — (Belgian Journal of Linguistics, 18).This paper argues against the view that prepositions designate motion. It is suggested that prepositions such as to and through are associated with spatial properties in addition to a functional element. The functional element arises as a consequence of our daily interaction with the spatial-configuration associated with the particular preposition. The 'movement' reading often associated with these prepositions results from the integration of spatial and functional elements with sentential context.