Prepositions and Modifiers of Location and Time
Keywords: prepositions, modifiers, adjectives, adverbs, relative clauses, dependent clauses
Earlier, we introduced modifiers as a general grammatical category in Common, and drilled down into their use with nouns, verbs, and as modifiers of modifiers. Those articles are attached. We mentioned that Common considers prepositions ('naz tritca', or 'naz tritcas keulca') to be modifiers that can take an object. We learnt the regular rules for when prepositional phrases must come out of the noun or verb phrase bracket, and what must happen if it does. In this article, we will explore this class of modifiers in more detail, and enumerate some of the most useful prepositions.
The relativising pronouns su and si are generally considered to belong to this class, although if they do they are very special members, as they can decline and their case connects them and their antecedent to a thematic role in a main or dependent verb. They are the only modifiers that can directly take a clause as an object. Prepositions that can take a clause as an object require the help of su or si..
Prepositions can be used in any of the following ways:
- To directly modify a noun or verb without taking an object.
- To take an object which is a noun phrase and to modify a noun or verb phrase.
- To introduce a dependent or relative clause with the help of su or si.
- To introduce a thematic element of the sentence and to add some optional or obligatory piece of information about the actor.
- In any of these roles, to serve a sentence-modifying narrative function, ostensibly owned by the main verb.
Prepositions tend to be grouped into modifiers of place, motion, or time, with frequent metaphorical extension to other domains.
Some resemblance of preposition words to body terms may be seen, and in these Davidson said that he was mimicking a naturalistic style. Some prepositions for more abstract qualities such as time and purpose bear a superficial resemblance to prepositions dealing with space and motion, which is also a naturalistic touch; however, Old Common was fictively supposed to be a very old language, and like real world languages, these linkages are often also obscured, and the patterns that seem to have produced them are not productive.
When used with 'su', the pattern is as follows:
NP PREP sun VP
This means that when modifying a noun phrase, the preposition is placed before the nominative form of the relativiser for nouns 'su', i.e., 'sun' and then a dependent clause is presented. Example:
na step e sun ja pikki a skitrem tene slek
the(NOM) place at RELN.NOM the(ERG) cat the(ABS) mouse hit(NP.PF) eta
the place where the cat ate the mouse
If the prepositional phrase with a dependent clause is modifying a verb, 'sin' would be used.
Prepositions of Place
This class of modifiers act as modifiers of place or location for verb or noun phrases, and tend to be agnostic about motion. Some prepositions of place are the same as prepositions of motion and require context to disambiguate.
| Word | Meaning | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| y, ∅ | Null preposition, 'of' | Expresses association or proximity without any further comment - usually grouped with prepositions of place. Usually omitted, so such phrases are introduced with a nominative noun phrase. Requires an object that is a nominative noun phrase. |
| e | located at | Requires an object in the nominative case which is the location - this can be sun or sin plus a dependent clause |
| ejók | beside, next to, with | May take an object in the nominative case which is the object the referent is next to, but can be used without an object. |
| epáli | under | May take an object in the nominative case which is the object the referent is under, but can be used without an object. |
| jene | above | May take an object in the nominative case which is the object the referent is above, but can be used without an object. |
| elua | resting on top of | May take an object in the nominative case which is the object the referent is on top of, but can be used without an object. |
| awjok | all around | May take an object in the nominative case which is the object or area the referent is all around, but can be used without an object. |
| fit | inside | May take an object in the nominative case which is the object the referent is inside of, but can be used without an object. |
| lat | outside | May take an object in the nominative case which is the object the referent is outside of, but can be used without an object. |
| erpa | against | Beside and in contact - requires a noun phrase object that is the thing the referent is against. Erpa is also notable in that it introduces the object of comparison in comparative constructions. |
| rokíle | behind | Takes a noun phrase in the nominative case. Can exist independently. |
| upána | ahead | Takes a noun phrase in the nominative case. Can exist independently. |
| epána | in front, in front of | Takes a noun phrase in the nominative case. Can exist independently. |
| ekáwa | between | Takes a pair of nouns in the nominative case connected by 'epis', or a single nominative noun in the paucal. noun phrase in the nominative case. Can exist independently. |
| esútta | along | Arrayed along its object, focusing on a long but not necessarily straight dimension of the object. |
Prepositions of place are often used metaphorically for other purposes, especially instrument, purpose and association.
Prepositions of Motion and Direction
This class of modifiers act as modifiers of opinion, manner or origin for nouns and of manner for verbs. They tend to be agnostic about exact location, although they may specify motion relative to something.
Note that Common, like English, is a satellite-framed language, and tends not to have verbs that mean moving in a direction. Rather, verbs encode manner of motion, and verbal satellites, which can be prepositions without objects, are needed to clarify direction. However, since Common treats prepositions as normal modifiers and can derive terms from modifiers, there are directional motion verbs coined by deriving these modifiers with -(y)n.
| Word | Meaning | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ceo | passing through | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| ufít | moving into | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| ulát | moving out or off of | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| jenu | moving onto | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| ujók | passing by | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| jene | passing over, across | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| cepáli | passing under | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| u | moving towards | A tight binding modifier on its own, where it has a sense of 'become', it can take an object in which case it acts loose binding. |
| ro | moving away, from | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. Has a prefix form that acts as an intensifier. Also used in the sense of 'from'. |
| hulta | moving around | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| ulua | moving up | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| pete | moving down | Does not require an object, may take a nominative noun phrase. |
| usútta | with, along with | Moving with the object or carried along by it. |
Prepositions of Time, Duration and Frequency
This class of modifiers occupies the time,duration and frequency for verbs, and they may be metaphorically extended to serve different roles with nouns in some cases. Common's prefered metaphor of time is that you face the future and have your back to the past
| Word | Meaning | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| rokíle | after | Takes either a noun phrase in the nominative case. Can exist independently. Often used with sun or sin to introduce a dependent clause. |
| upána | before | Takes either a noun phrase in the nominative case. Can exist independently. Often used with sun or sin to introduce a dependent clause. |
| usámor | until | Takes either a noun phrase in the nominative case. Often used with sun or sin to introduce a dependent clause. |
| kocél | while, when, during, at the same time as, at a time, simultaneously | Can take a nominative noun phase. Used on its own, it is a modifier of time meaning 'simultaneously' and referring back to some antecedent. Often used with sun or sin to introduce a dependent clause. |
| awcel | with a frequency, frequent, often, every | Takes a noun phrase object that is the time frequency that the action occurs at. Used indepently it means 'frequent' or 'often' and can be adjusted with tight binding modifier. |
| rocél | for a duration | Takes a noun phrase object that is the time duration that the action occurs for. When used independently, has a sense of 'a while'. Often used with sun or sin to introduce a dependent clause. |
Prepositions of Association, Instrument and Purpose
This class of modifiers includes some words that do not appear to be definitively related to spatial or temporal terms in Common and which fill the instrument and purpose modifier slots for verbs and nouns.
| Word | Meaning | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ceo | with, using, by | Requires an object in the nominative case or a dependent clause intriduced with 'sin' for this sense, describes the instrument or means by which something is accomplished. |
| ejók | with, present | Used to indicate that its object co-occurs with something else, but is neutral about that co-occurence - there isn't a causal or a topical or an instrumental relationship. Requires an object. |
| icók | without, absent | Like ejók but stipulates the absense of something. |
| upána | for the benefit of | Takes a noun phrase object which must be in the nominative case. Cannot usually take a dependent clause object with this meaning, because in that case the 'before' sense will usually be read. |
| u | in order to | Additional meaning of 'u', takes a nominative dependent clause which must be introduced with 'sin'. |
| rowéro | because of, because | Requires an object in the nominative case, cannot stand alone. This expression is one of the ways to make a periphrastic causative, representing a weak and not necessarily intentional causative. Often used with sun or sin to introduce a dependent clause. |
| re | about, with | Requires an object in the nominative case, cannot stand alone. It introduces a topic. Often used with sun or sin to introduce a dependent clause. |
| erpa | against | In opposition to - requires a noun phrase object that is the thing the referent is against. |
Strong Versus Weak Prepositional Modifiers
In Common, a preposition is a modifier that can take an object. They have a verb-like quality, in that they have a referent, the noun or verb they modify, and an object. Notice, however, that many modifiers which are capable of acting as prepositions are also able to function independently as modifiers. An example is 'rocél', which is used to introduce a duration but which can also be used to create a durative aspect (like 'a while' in English). Such prepositions which can also function independently are 'strong' ('werta'), and those which must take an object are 'weak' (moat').
The strong versus weak distinction seems not to have been designed into the language, but to have arisen through use and noticed by grammarians. The distinction is phonological. All single syllable prepositions which end in a vowel are weak. All other prepositions are strong.
Weak prepositions may still be used on their own to modify a noun or verb, but in such cases they must be compounded with the term as a prefix, and they are typically unstressed. Whereas strong prepositions used without an object can occupy their proper place in the modifier sequence based on their meaning and can be separated from their referent by other words. The classic example of a weak preposition acting as a modifying prefix is ro-', which is used in many compounds as an intensifier.
Idioms Using Prepositions
There is much more to using prepositions than knowing their basic meanings - their usage, as in English and other languages you may be familiar with, can be highly idiosyncratic. In this section we will over time build on idioms using prepositions, explaining their use with examples. See also the specific lexeme entries for some further examples of usage of specific modifiers.