Preposition and postposition

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  In grammar, a 
 is a part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. For example, in the sentence "The cat sleeps on the sofa", the word "on" is a preposition, introducing the prepositional phrase "on the sofa". In English, the most used prepositions are "of", "to", "in", "for", "with" and "on". Simply put, a preposition indicates a relation between things mentioned in a sentence. Linguists sometimes distinguish between a 
, which precedes its phrase, a , which follows its phrase, and a   , which surrounds its phrase. Taken together, these three parts of speech are called . In more technical language, an adposition is an element that, prototypically, combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. Some linguists use the word "preposition" instead of "adposition" for all three cases.[1] In linguistics, adpositions are considered to be members of the syntactic category "P". "PPs",[2] consisting of an adpositional head and its complement phrase, are used for a wide range of syntactic and semantic functions, most commonly modification and complementation. The following examples illustrate some uses of English prepositional phrases: OV

OV

OV

OV

OV

OV

as a modifier to a verb V 

 throughout the winter V 
atop the tables for hours as a modifier to a noun V the O

in April V 


from France with live bacteria as the complement of a verb V  on staying home V 
of unwanted items as the complement of a noun V a   for revenge V an

 to the constitution as the complement of an adjective or adverb V 

to their needs V 
 
 from its neighbors as the complement of another preposition V  after supper V   beneath the bed

Adpositions perform many of the same functions as case markings, but adpositions are syntactic elements, while case markings are morphological elements.




Adpositions form a heterogeneous class, with fuzzy boundaries that tend to overlap with other categories (like verbs, nouns, and adjectives). It is thus impossible to provide an absolute definition that picks out all and only the adpositions in every language. The following features, however, are often required of adpositions. An adposition combines syntactically with exactly one complement phrase, most often a noun phrase (or, in a different analysis, a determiner phrase). (In some analyses, an adposition need have no complement. See below.) In English, this is generally a noun (or something functioning as a noun, e.g., a gerund), called the object of the preposition, together with its attendant modifiers. OV An adposition establishes the grammatical relationship that links its complement phrase to another word or phrase in the context. In English, it also establishes a semantic relationship, which may be spatial (in, on, under, ...), temporal (after, during, ...), or logical (via, ...) in nature. OV An adposition determines certain grammatical properties of its complement (e.g. its case). In English, the objects of prepositions are always in the objective case. In Koine Greek, certain prepositions always take their objects in a certain case (e.g., İȞ always takes its object in the dative), and other prepositions may take their object in one of several cases, depending on the meaning of the preposition (e.g., įȚĮ takes its object in the genitive or in the accusative, depending on the meaning). OV Adpositions are non-inflecting (or "invariant"); i.e., they do not have paradigms of forms (for different tenses, cases, genders, etc.) in the same way as verbs, adjectives, and nouns in the same language. There are exceptions, though, for example in Celtic languages (see Inflected preposition). OV

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 The following properties are characteristic of most adpositional systems. OV

Adpositions are among the most frequently occurring words in languages that have them. For example, one frequency ranking for English word forms[3] begins as follows (adpositions in bold): the, , and,
, a, , that, it, is, was, I, , , you, «

OV

The most common adpositions are single, monomorphemic words. According to the ranking cited above, for example, the most common English prepositions are: of, to, in, for, on, with, as, by, at, from, «

OV

Adpositions form a closed class of lexical items and cannot be productively derived from words of other categories.

˜   Main article: Preposition stranding

Preposition stranding is a syntactic construct in which a preposition with an object occurs somewhere other than immediately next to its object. It is most commonly found in English as well as North Germanic languages. The existence of preposition stranding in German and Dutch is debated. Preposition stranding is also found in languages outside the Germanic family, such as Vata and Gbadi (languages of the Niger-Congo) and the dialects of some North American French speakers.

r   Adpositions can be organized into subclasses according to various criteria. These can be based on directly observable properties (such as the adposition's form or its position in the sentence) or on less visible properties (such as the adposition's meaning or function in the context at hand).

˜ 
 
 ˜ 
adpositions consist of a single word, while  
 adpositions consist of a group of words that act as one unit. Some examples of complex prepositions in English are: OV

in spite of, with respect to, except for, by dint of, next to

The boundary between simple and complex adpositions is not clear-cut and for the most part arbitrary. Many simple adpositions are derived from complex forms (e.g. with + in ĺ within, by + side ĺ beside) through grammaticalization. This change takes time, and during the transitional stages the adposition acts in some ways like a single word, and in other ways like a multi-word unit. For example, current German orthographic conventions recognize the indeterminate status of the following adpositions, allowing two spellings:[4] OV

anstelle / an Stelle ("instead of"), aufgrund / auf Grund ("because of"), mithilfe / mit Hilfe ("thanks to"), zugunsten / zu Gunsten ("in favor of"), zuungunsten / zu Ungunsten ("to the disadvantage of"), zulasten / zu Lasten ("at the expense of")

The boundary between complex adpositions and free combinations of words is also a fuzzy one. For English, this involves structures of the form "preposition + (article) + noun + preposition". Many sequences in English, such as in front of, that are traditionally regarded as prepositional phrases are not so regarded by linguists.[5] The following characteristics are good indications that a given combination is "frozen" enough to be considered a complex preposition in English: It contains a word that cannot be used in any other context: by dint of, in lieu of. The first preposition cannot be replaced: with a view to but not *for/without a view to It is impossible to insert an article, or to use a different article: on *an/*the account of, for the/*a sake of OV The range of possible adjectives is very limited: in great favor of, but not *in helpful favor of OV The number of the noun cannot be changed: by virtue/*virtues of OV It is impossible to use a possessive determiner: in spite of him, not *in his spite

OV OV OV

Complex prepositions develop through the grammaticalization of commonly-used free combinations. This is an ongoing process that introduces new prepositions into English.[6]

r   The surface position of an adposition with respect to its complement allows us to define the following subclasses: OV

A 
 precedes its complement to form a prepositional phrase. German:  dem Tisch, French:  la table, Polish:  stole (" the table")

OV

A  follows its complement to form a postpositional phrase. Mandarin: 
zhuōzi  (lit. "table "), Finnish: (minun)   ni (lit. "my O"), Turkish: benim
(or "benim 
") (lit. "me O")

These two terms are in fact much more commonly used than the more general . Whether a language has primarily prepositions or postpositions is seen as an important aspect of its typological classification, correlated with many other properties of the language according to research into linguistic universals. It is usually straightforward to say whether an adposition precedes or follows its complement, but in some cases, the complement may not appear in its "normal" position. For example, in preposition stranding constructions, the complement appears somewhere to the left of the preposition: OV OV

ƒHow much money} did you say the guy wanted to sell us the car  ? She's going to the Bahamas? ƒWho} O?

In other cases, the complement of the adposition is missing altogether: OV OV

I'm going to the park. Do you want to come with? French: Il fait trop froid, je ne suis pas habillée  . ("It's too cold, I'm not dressed  [this situation].")

The adpositions in these examples are generally still considered to be prepositions, because when they form a phrase with the complement (in more ordinary constructions), they must appear first. Some adpositions can in fact appear on either side of their complement; these might be called  (Reindl 2001, Libert 2006): OV OV

He slept ƒ  the whole night}/ƒthe whole night  }. German: ƒmeiner Meinung  }/ƒ  meiner Meinung} (" my opinion")

An ambiposition may have distinct meanings, and it may govern distinct cases, depending on its position. E.g. German preposition,
  (along). It can be put before or after the noun related to it (but with different noun cases attached to it). die Straße
 
  der Straße  the road Another logical possibility is for the adposition to appear on both sides of its complement: OV

A    has two parts, which surround the complement to form a circumpositional phrase. V English:   now  V Dutch:  het einde 
("towards the end", lit. "to the end to") V Mandarin: ;
  bīngxīang  ("from the inside of the refrigerator", lit. "from refrigerator inside") V French:  un détail   ("except for one detail", lit. "at one detail near")

"Circumposition" can be useful as a descriptive term, although on closer inspection, most circumpositional phrases can be broken down into a more hierarchical structure, or given a different analysis altogether. For example, the Mandarin example above could be analyzed as a prepositional phrase headed by cóng ("from"), taking the postpositional phrase bīngxīang lǐ ("refrigerator inside") as its complement. Alternatively, the cóng may be analyzed as not being a preposition at all (see the section below regarding coverbs). OV OV

An  is an adposition between constituents of a complex complement.[7] ë  is a term sometimes used for an adposition that can function as either a preposition or a postposition.[8]

Melis (2003) proposes the descriptive term 
 for adpositions in the structures such as the following: OV

mot à mot ("word for word"), coup sur coup ("one after another, repeatedly"), page après page ("page upon page")

These phrases do require special attention, but the term "interposition" cannot be taken literally to mean that the adposition appears inside its complement (because the two nouns do not form a single phrase *mot mot or *page page). Genuine examples of "interposed" adpositions can be found in Latin (e.g. summa cum laude, lit. "highest with praise"), but these are always related to a more basic prepositional structure.

r   

 Although noun phrases are the most typical complements, adpositions can in fact combine with a variety of syntactic categories, much like verbs.

OV OV OV OV OV OV OV

noun phrases: It was  {the table}. adpositional phrases: rome out   {under the bed}. adjectives and adjective phrases: !he scene went   {blindingly bright}
{pitch black}. adverbs or adverb phrases: I worked there R
 {recently} infinitival or participial verb phrases: et's think m R
{solving this problem}. interrogative clauses: ÷e can't agree  {whether to have children or not} full sentences (see Conjunctions below)

Also like verbs, adpositions can appear without a complement; see Adverbs below. Some adpositions could be described as combining with two complements: OV OV

ƒ  Sammy president}, we can all come out of hiding again. ƒ Sammy to become president}, they'd have to seriously modify the Constitution.

It is more commonly assumed, however, that ˜ammy and the following predicate first forms a small clause, which then becomes the single complement of the preposition. (In the first example above, a word (such as as) may be considered to be ellided, which, if present, would clarify the grammatical relationship.) c
 

 
     
     


   
   
        



    
          
    
    
  
 

 

           
   
        

   
 
 
  

 
  

  
     

    

 
  
    
     

 
   



  


    
  
 


             

 

  


  
    
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