Difference between revisions of "Adpositions"
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Revision as of 14:58, 19 November 2012
Adpositions indicate the semantic relationship between two nouns in a construction. Cross-linguistically, adpositions are primarily used to encode spatial relationships. In Sereer, most adpositions are used to inidicate spatial relationships, through there are also temporal adpositions, and adpositions that license additional arguments without spatial reference. In all cases, adpositions are preposed to the noun that they modify, and they are morphologically free particles.
Spatial Prepositions
There are two classes of spatial prepositions: those that function verbally and therefore take verbal morphology, and those that cannot take verbal morphology. The non-verbal adpositions are indicated in Table 1, while those that have verbal characteristics are shown in Table 2.
Gloss | Adposition | Source | Notes, Example Sentences | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
at/to | no | VW_054 | eg. no oɓox ole [noɓox ole]"at the dog" | ||||
with | fo | VW_054 | fo japil "with the knife", fo oteo "with the woman" | ||||
in/inside | kam | JM_021, VW_040 | |||||
near/by/next to | pam | pam | JM_021, VW_040 | pam ndaxarne "by the tree" | |||
over/above/on/up | tok | JM_021, VW_040 | used also as adv. "up" | ||||
under | ɗoxang | ɗoxang, ɗoxaŋ | JM_021 | ɗoxang mbaj ne "under the blanket" | |||
inside/in between/in the middle | andeer | JM_012, VW_040 | CHECKING | ||||
amidst/between/surrounded by/inside | ndeer | VW_024 | ndeer taxarke "amidst the trees" | ||||
between, in the middle between (2 things) | ndeender | VW_024 | ndeender taxarke "between the (two) trees" | ||||
in front of | mbaambir | JM_021, VW_054 | |||||
behind/after | acinj | JM_021, VW_040 | acinj mbine "behind the house" | ||||
behind | kataa | VW_040 | |||||
outside | tafil | VW_040 | also N "outside" |
Gloss | Adposition | Verbal Root | Meaning | Source | Notes, Example Sentences | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
around | widna, mbidna | twist around | wid | VW_040 | |||
toward | jofna | go toward | ɟof | VW_024 | |||
near (to) | matna | be near | mat | VW_024 | |||
far from | goƭna | be far | goƭ | VW_024 | |||
from | xatna | come from | xat | VW_068 | |||
from | inoorna | come from | inoor | VW_068 | |||
in front of | adox?? | be first | adox | VW_038 (JH_039) | derived from "leader" N | ||
above | yooroox | be above | yooroox | VW_097 | |||
facing | faam | often appears with -ir | |||||
toward | jasnoor | have only gotten once, with n- |
Structure of PPs
Spatial prepositions are indicated by particles that appear preposed to the noun phrase. Because noun phrases are head initial, i.e all nominal modifiers (determiners, adjectives, numerals) appear following the noun, the preposition always appears directly adjacent to the noun, as shown in 1-3.
'fo japil |
fo | japil |
with | knife |
'with a knife' (026)
2)
na pamb ake |
na | pamb | ake |
at | drums | DET |
'at the drums' (086)
3)
ɗoxang ndaxar yaxgu ne |
ɗoxang | ndaxar | yaxgu | ne |
under | tree | red | DET |
'under the red tree' (110)
Prepositions treat pronouns in the same manner as full nouns, as shown in Examples 4 and 5. The first and second
4)
adega ndawal ne fo ten |
a- | deg | -a | ndawal | ne | fo | ten |
3S- | cut | -NPT | meat | DET | with | 3PRO |
'he cut the meat with it' (123)
5)
ndiiƭ ne axe pam den |
ndiiƭ | ne | a- | xe | pam | den |
bird | DET | 3S- | PROG | near | 3PRO.PL |
'the bird is near them' (123)
Embedding PPs
Prepositions can be used to to introduce PPs that modify core arguments as well as add arguments. Word order in Sereer is relatively strict; when a PP directly follows a subject, it must be interpreted as modifying that argument, as shown in Examples 6, and 7. However, as shown in 8, a PP that is clause-finally can be understood as modifying either the subject or object. PPs that modify the action of the verb, specifying its spatial position, appear post-verbally, as shown in 9. It is also possible to place PPs that modify verbs sentence-initially, as shown in 10. These are translated with a fronted PP in English, as well, and presumably are licensed by focus.
6) PP modifying subject of intransitive verb
fañiik fe kam foofi' le axaasa |
fañiik | fe | kam | foofi' | le | a- | xaas | -a |
elephant | DET | in | water | DET | 3S- | fart | -NPT |
'the elephant in the water farted' (110)
7) PP modifying subject of transitive verb
muus ne kam mbine añaama ndiiƭ ne |
muus | ne | kam | mbine | a- | ñaam | -a | ndiiƭ | ne |
cat | DET | inside | house.DET | 3S- | eat | -NPT | bird | DET |
'the cat in the house ate the bird' (123)
8) PP modifying either the subject or object of transitive verb
okoor oxe añaama ɓaak le tok atabla le |
okoor | oxe | a- | ñaam | -a | ɓaak | le | tok | atabla | le |
man | DET | 3S- | eat | -NPT | baobab.fruit | DET | on | table | DET |
'the man eats the baobab fruit on the table' (110)
9) PP modifying the verb
ɗaanam pam aqoƥ ale |
ɗaan | -a | -um | pam | aqoƥ | ale |
sleep | -NPT | 1S | near | forest | DET |
'I sleep near the forest' (110)
10) Sentence-initial PP modifying the verb
pam aqoƥ ale ɗaanum |
pam | aqoƥ | ale | ɗaan | -um |
near | forest | DET | sleep | 1S |
'near the forest I slept' (110)
Co-occurrence Restrictions
Verbal and non-verbal prepositions can co-occur, as shown in 11. An exhaustive list of co-occurrence restrictions of prepositions is given in Table 3.
11)
ɗufam mbaamir ɗoxang mbine |
ɗuf | -a | -um | mbaamir | ɗoxang | mbine | run | -NPT | -1S | in.front.of | under | house.DET |
'I ran toard under the house' (110)
no | fo | kam | pam | tok | ɗoxang | ndeer | mbaamir | acinj | kataa | tafil |
---|
Gloss | Adposition | Source | Notes, Example Sentences | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
before | bala | VW_054 | |||||
during | ananga | VW_068 | |||||
during | yete | VW_068 | |||||
during/in | na | VW_068 | same as n- above ? | ||||
until | bote | VW_068 | |||||
until | bona | VW_068 | |||||
until | booyaate | VW_068 |