Defining the conceptual structure of from and to

Abstract

From and to differ from other prepositions of movement in two significant respects: they entail point-apprehensibility and leave the actual trajector-landmark arrangement unspecified. The difference is due to the presence of two place-functions in their conceptual structure. The first place-function is the same as the one found in the conceptual structure of at. It triggers a point-like conceptualization and is lexicalized together with the path-function. The second place-function is not specified but can be lexicalized separately. The conceptual structure with two place-functions allows for a second preposition, but can at the same time account for the unacceptability of from at and to at. The paper highlights the vagueness of the traditional definitions of from and to, arguing that what is conceptualized as a point is not the landmark but the place of location.