Inflected preposition
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In
Terminology and analysis
There are many different names for inflected prepositions, including conjugated preposition, pronominal preposition, prepositional pronoun, and suffixed pronoun.[1] (But note that the term prepositional pronoun also has a different sense, for which see Prepositional pronoun.)
Historically, inflected prepositions can develop from the
Language change over time can obscure the similarity between the conjugated preposition and the preposition-pronoun combination. For example, in Scottish Gaelic "with" is le /lɛ/ and "him" is e /ɛ/, but "with him" is leis /leʃ/.
Distribution
Insular Celtic
All Insular Celtic languages have inflected prepositions; these languages include Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton.
Scottish Gaelic
The following table shows the inflected forms of the preposition aig 'at'. These forms are a combination of preposition and pronoun, and are obligatory; that is, the separate preposition plus pronoun *aig mi 'at me' is ungrammatical. Also no separate pronoun may also be given after these combined forms. (So *agam mi is ungrammatical.)
Singular Plural 1st Person agam againn 2nd Person agad agaibh 3rd Person Masculine aige aca Feminine aice
Welsh
The following table shows the colloquial inflected forms of the preposition i 'to/for'. The optional pronouns that follow the inflected forms are given in parentheses.
Singular Plural 1st Person imi, i mi, ifi, i fi ini, i ni, inni 2nd Person iti, i ti ichi, i chi 3rd Person Masculine iddo (fe/fo) iddyn (nhw) Feminine iddi (hi)
The sentence Mae hi wedi ei roi iddo fo 'she has given it to him' required the inflected form of i, *mae hi wedi ei roi i fo is not grammatically correct.
The following table gives the inflected colloquial forms of the preposition o 'of/from'. The optional pronouns that follow the inflected forms are given in parentheses.
Singular Plural 1st Person ohonof (i), ohono (i) ohonon (ni) 2nd Person ohonot (ti) ohonoch (chi) 3rd Person Masculine ohono (fe/fo) ohonyn (nhw) Feminine ohoni (hi)
Semitic
Inflected prepositions are found in many
For example, the Arabic preposition على (/ʕalaː) 'on' inflects as علَيَّ (/ʕalajːa/) 'on me', علَيْكَ) (/ʕalajka/) 'on you M.SG)', علَيْهِ (/ʕalajhi/) 'on him', etc.
Iranic languages
Some
Other languages
Languages that do not have full paradigms of inflected prepositions may nonetheless allow contraction of prepositions and pronouns to a more limited extent.
In formal registers of Polish, a handful of common prepositions allow amalgamated forms with third-person pronouns: na niego 'on him/it' → nań.[3] However, these contracted forms are archaic and rarely heard in daily speech.
In many Iberian Romance languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese, the preposition con or com 'with' has special forms incorporating certain pronouns (depending on the language). For example, in Spanish and Asturian conmigo means 'with me'. Historically, this developed from the Latin use of cum 'with' after a pronoun, as in mecum 'with me'.
Inflected postpositions
As languages can make use of
See also
- Breton language: Grammar
- Arabic grammar
- Hebrew grammar
- Irish morphology
- Portuguese personal pronouns
- Scottish Gaelic grammar
- Hungarian noun phrases#Postpositions with personal suffixes
References
- ^ Stalmaszczyk, Piotr (2007). "Prepositional Possessive Constructions in Celtic Languages and Celtic Englishes". The Celtic Languages in Contact: Papers from the Workshop within the Framework of the XIII International Conference of Celtic Studies, Bonn, 26–27 July 2007.
- ISBN 0-415-10190-5.
- ISBN 0-89357-296-9.
- ^ Crowell, Thomas Harris (1979). A Grammar of Bororo. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.
External links
- Examples of Irish prepositional pronouns
- Explanation of Scottish prepositional pronouns
- Prepositions with suffixes in Biblical Hebrew
- Prepositions with pronominal suffixes in Biblical Hebrew