A variety-driven approach to Goal-Source (a)symmetries

This comparative study presents an overview of Place/Goal/Source coding strategies in 35 languages and discusses asymmetries across different types of Ground arguments. The genealogically balanced sample was created using a novel computer-assisted approach which detects information-dense descriptions of languages. The comparison of data uncovers a variety of coding patterns across and within languages that leads to general Goal-Source asymmetry. Asymmetry can be shown to arise frequently due to different degrees of verb-conflation especially in the relation of Goal, and with inherently spatial Ground arguments such as spatial adverbials. Most sample languages do not show a consistent coding strategy that holds for (i) Place/Goal/Source expressions with the same Ground type and (ii) Goal and Source expressions across different Ground types, such as common nouns, interrogatives, adverbials, animates and toponyms. Grammatical distinctions of Goal and/or Source are employed by less than half of the sample, and Source expressions are more often subject to strategies unique to their relation such as iconically ordered Source expressions, deictic coding or contextual resolution.