La preposizione a e alcuni suoi corrispettivi polacchi –uno studio cognitivo

The analysis of the Italian preposition a in spatial contexts (static or dynamic) leads to the conclusion that this unit engenders path schema interpretation (source – path – goal) in whatever context it appears. In dynamic contexts path schema highlights the final location of a trajector that has moved along a path built up into the verb stem. In static contexts the location of a trajector is visualized as situated at a point of the path where previuos movement has stopped (suspended motion). In both cases the landmark is approximately idealized as a point i.e. it is shapeless. This characteristic renders the unit a a flexible semantic tool apt to be used in spatial and metaphorical contexts. The Polish equivalents of a phrases in Italian are the following: w+loc, na+loc, nad+instr, do+gen, na+acc, nad+acc, o+loc and bare dative. They all involve the path schema combined with other image schemas such as: container schema, surface, verticality and endpoint (recipient) schema. In Polish the schematic meaning is conveyed not only by prepositional units and verbs but also by inflectional case governed by prepositions. Usually such a case is convergent with dynamic (accusative, genitive) or static (locative, instrumental) predication