Toward a functional typology of adpositions: theoretical implications
Abstract
It is widely accepted that adpositions are used to code the relationship between noun phrases and the relationship between noun phrases and predicates. The present study demonstrates that adpositions are also a coding means for several functions unrelated to the role of noun phrases in the clause and unrelated to the relationship between noun phrases. The following distinct functions of adpositions are added to the existing typologies: 1. Coding the complement as locative (distinct from spatial relations); 2. Coding the directionality of movement (distinct from spatial relations); 3. Coding spatial relationship with respect to the point of reference (distinct from locative function or directionality); 4. Coding the change of the inherent semantic properties of nouns (distinct from spatial relations, directionality, or the locative function); 5. Coding locative predication as distinct from other predications (distinct from locative complement). The study also addresses a fundamental question, viz. why adpositions are sometimes used and sometimes not used within the same language even if the same functions are encoded in the clause. The study also addresses why adpositions are used or not used across languages when the same functions are involved. The general implication of this study is that it provides the evidence that languages encode different semantic structures in their grammatical system. Consequently, the formation of utterances is driven by the speaker’s choice from semantic functions encoded in the grammatical system of the given language and from the available formal means of coding.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the University of Colorado for granting me a sabbatical leave that allowed me to dedicate sufficient time to research and writing. Some of the formulations in this study were prompted by discussions at various talks, the most important of which were talks at the Department of African Languages at the University of Cologne and at the conference Diacronía y adposiciones: origen y evolución, Universidad de Sonora. An earlier version was read in absentia at Bayero University, Kano. The research on various elements of this study was supported by the University of Colorado Seed Grant. The participants in that project were Erin Shay, Marielle Butters, and Megan Schwabauer. Erin Shay has also read the complete paper and made numerous substantial and editorial suggestions. I am most grateful to the anonymous readers whose questions and comments led to significant reorganization of the paper, the addition of new material, and the elimination of some other material. I did not agree with all comments, and I may live to regret it. I am also most grateful to the Editor of Folia Linguistica Olga Fischer and Assistant Editor Sune Gregersen for their precious suggestions. I am solely responsible for all errors of facts or interpretation in this study.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- On the impact of clause order on pronoun resolution: evidence from Spanish
- Establishing a Sprachbund in the Western Lingnan region: conceptual and methodological issues
- Phonaesthemic alternations in Flemish dialects: a matter of language contact in the emergence of phonaesthesia?
- Phonotactic conditions and morphotactic transparency in Mirandese word formation
- Toward a functional typology of adpositions: theoretical implications
- Expanding the dative semantic map: the functions of the postposition =rā in the Tātic language group
- Intonation as a cue to epistemic stance in one type of insubordinate clauses
- Book Reviews
- Gordon Tucker, Guowen Huang, Lise Fontaine & Edward McDonald: Approaches to Systemic Functional Grammar: Convergence and divergence
- Christoph Rühlemann: Visual linguistics with R: A practical introduction to quantitative interactional linguistics
- Xinren Chen: Exploring identity work in Chinese communication
- Pietro Bortone: Language and nationality: Social inferences, cultural differences, and linguistic misconceptions
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- On the impact of clause order on pronoun resolution: evidence from Spanish
- Establishing a Sprachbund in the Western Lingnan region: conceptual and methodological issues
- Phonaesthemic alternations in Flemish dialects: a matter of language contact in the emergence of phonaesthesia?
- Phonotactic conditions and morphotactic transparency in Mirandese word formation
- Toward a functional typology of adpositions: theoretical implications
- Expanding the dative semantic map: the functions of the postposition =rā in the Tātic language group
- Intonation as a cue to epistemic stance in one type of insubordinate clauses
- Book Reviews
- Gordon Tucker, Guowen Huang, Lise Fontaine & Edward McDonald: Approaches to Systemic Functional Grammar: Convergence and divergence
- Christoph Rühlemann: Visual linguistics with R: A practical introduction to quantitative interactional linguistics
- Xinren Chen: Exploring identity work in Chinese communication
- Pietro Bortone: Language and nationality: Social inferences, cultural differences, and linguistic misconceptions
