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Encyclopedia > Adpositional phrase

In linguistics, an adpositional phrase is a general term that includes prepositional phrases (which are usually found in head-first languages like English) and postpositional phrases (usually found in head-final languages like Dutch). The difference between the two is simply one of word order. For the journal, see Linguistics (journal). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... In linguistics, branching is the general tendency towards a given order of words within sentences and smaller grammatical units within sentences (such as subordinate propositions, prepositional phrases, etc. ...


Both types of adpositional phrases are a syntactic category: a phrase which is treated in certain ways as a unit by a language's rules of syntax. An adpositional phrase is composed of an adposition (in the head position, which is why it lends its name to the phrase) and usually a complement such as a noun phrase. ("Adposition" is similarly a generic term for either a preposition or a postposition.) These phrases generally act as complements and adjuncts of noun phrases and verb phrases. A syntactic category is either a phrasal category, such as noun phrase or verb phrase, which can be decomposed into smaller syntactic categories, or a lexical category, such as noun or verb, which cannot be further decomposed. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ... In grammar, an adposition is an element that, prototypically, combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. ... In linguistics, the head is the morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member. ... A complement is a phrase that fits a particular slot in the syntax requirements of a parent phrase. ... Look up noun phrase in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with adposition. ... A postposition is a type of adposition, a grammatical particle that expresses some sort of relationship between a noun phrase (its object) and another part of the sentence; an adpositional phrase functions as an adjective or adverb. ... A complement is a phrase that fits a particular slot in the syntax requirements of a parent phrase. ... Look up adjunct in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In linguistics, a noun phrase is a phrase whose Head is a noun. ... In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic structure composed of the predicative elements of a sentence and functions in providing information about the subject of the sentence. ...


Prepositional phrases

The bolded phrases are examples of prepositional phrases in English:

  • She is on the computer.
  • He could hear her across the room.
  • Sarah walked down the ramp.
  • They walked to their school.
  • Garrett ate in the kitchen.

Prepositional phrases have a preposition as the head of the phrase. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with adposition. ... In linguistics, the head is the morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member. ...


The first example could be diagrammed (using simplified modern notation):

 IP /  NP VP | |  N V  | | PP She is /  /  P NP | /  on Det N | | the computer 

Where by convention:

The diagram shows that the prepositional phrase in this sentence is composed of two parts: a preposition and a noun phrase. The preposition is in the head position, and the noun phrase is in the complement position. Because English is a head-first language, we usually see the head before the complement (or any adjuncts) when we actually read the sentence. (However, the head comes after the specifier, such as the determiner "the" in the noun phrase above.) An inflectional phrase is essentially the same as a sentence. ... Look up noun phrase in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic structure composed of the predicative elements of a sentence and functions in providing information about the subject of the sentence. ... Determiners are words which quantify or identify nouns. ... The following is about the linguistics term; adjunct is also a conjunct disjunct adverbial Categories: Linguistics stubs ...


See adposition for more examples of complements found in prepositional phrases. In grammar, an adposition is an element that, prototypically, combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. ...


Prepositional phrases generally act as complements and adjuncts of noun phrases and verb phrases. For example: The following is about the linguistics term; adjunct is also a conjunct disjunct adverbial Categories: Linguistics stubs ... Look up noun phrase in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic structure composed of the predicative elements of a sentence and functions in providing information about the subject of the sentence. ...

  • The man from China was enjoying his noodles. (Adjunct of a noun phrase)
  • She ran under him. (Adjunct of a verb phrase)
  • He gave money to the cause. (Oblique complement of a verb phrase)
  • A student of physics. (Complement of a noun phrase)
  • She argued with him. (Complement of a verb phrase)

A prepositional phrase should not be confused with the sequence formed by the particle and the direct object of a phrasal verb, as in turn on the light. This sequence is structurally distinct from a prepositional phrase. In this case, "on" and "the light" do not form a unit; they combine independently with the verb "turn". An oblique case (Latin: ) in linguistics is a noun case of analytic languages that is used generally when a noun is the predicate of a sentence or a preposition. ... In the English language, a phrasal verb is a verb combined with an uninflected preposition, an adverb, or an adverbial particle; for example, stand up. A phrasal verb is also called verb-particle construction, verb phrase, multi-word verb, or compound verb. ...


Another common point of confusion is that the word "to" may appear either as a preposition or as a verbal particle in infinitive verb phrases, such as "to run for president". In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. ...


Postpositional phrases

Postpositions are usually found in head-final languages such as Basque, Estonian, Finnish, Japanese, Bengali and Tamil. The word or other morpheme that corresponds to an English preposition occurs after its complement, hence the name postposition. The following examples are from Japanese: A postposition is a type of adposition, a grammatical particle that expresses some sort of relationship between a noun phrase (its object) and another part of the sentence; an adpositional phrase functions as an adjective or adverb. ... In linguistics, branching is the general tendency towards a given order of words within sentences and smaller grammatical units within sentences (such as subordinate propositions, prepositional phrases, etc. ... Basque (native name: euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ... Bengali or Bangla (IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit languages. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... In morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest lingual unit that carries a semantic interpretation. ... A complement is a phrase that fits a particular slot in the syntax requirements of a parent phrase. ...

  • mise ni ("to the store")
  • ie kara ("from the house")
  • hashi de ("with chopsticks" or "on the bridge")

And from Finnish, where postpositions have further developed into case endings:

  • kauppaan ("to the store")
  • talosta ("from the house")
  • puikoilla ("with chopsticks")

Postpositional phrases generally act as complements and adjuncts of noun phrases and verb phrases. The following is about the linguistics term; adjunct is also a conjunct disjunct adverbial Categories: Linguistics stubs ... Look up noun phrase in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic structure composed of the predicative elements of a sentence and functions in providing information about the subject of the sentence. ...


See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
Phrase - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (643 words)
In grammar, a phrase (Greek φράση, sentence, expression, see also strophe) is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence.
The two types are sometimes commonly referred to as adpositional phrases.
For example prepositional phrases express a figure-ground relation in which the prepositional complement is the ground, the preposition itself specifies the relation, and the precedent element is the figure.
Noun phrase - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (183 words)
In grammatical theory, a noun phrase (abbreviated NP) is a phrase whose head is a noun or a pronoun, optionally accompanied by a set of modifiers.
Complements, in the form of an adpositional phrase (the man with a fl hat), or a relative clause (the books that I bought yesterday).
In a phrase such as The king of Sparta's wife, the possessive clitic -'s is not added to the king who actually owns the wife, but instead to Sparta, to which the wife only remotely belongs.
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

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