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1.3.1.3.Postpositions

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This section provides a semantic subclassification of the postpositions in Subsection II. But in in order to set the stage for this discussion, first Subsection I starts by recapitulating from Section 1.1.2.2 some differences between pre- and postpositions.

I. Differences between pre- and postpositions
II. A classification of postpositions

[+] I. Differences between pre- and postpositions

Spatial postpositions are always directional: they indicate that the located object is covering a path related to the reference object. In this respect postpositional phrases differ from prepositional phrases, which, with the exception of those headed by the directional prepositions in Table 16, just refer to a (change of) location. This difference accounts for the fact that, whereas prepositional phrases can occur as the complement of both locational verbs like liggen'to lie' and motion verbs like springen'to jump', postpositional phrases are not possible as the complement of locational verbs.

246

a.		Jan ligt/springt	in	het zwembad.
		Jan lies/jumps	in(to)	the swimming.pool

b.		Jan springt/*ligt	het zwembad	in.
		Jan jumps/lies	the swimming.pool	into

Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the change of location reading of prepositional phrases and the directional reading of postpositional phrases: the two examples in (246) with the motion verb springen seem nearly synonymous. That only the postpositional phrase involves the notion of a path can be made clear, however, by means of the examples in (247).

247

a.	Jan is op de trap	gesprongen	(#naar zijn kamer).
	Jan is on the stairs	jumped	to his room
	'Jan has jumped onto the stairs (to his room).'

b.	Jan is de trap	op	gesprongen/gerend	(naar zijn kamer).
	Jan is the stairs	onto	jumped/run	to his room
	'Jan has jumped/run up the stairs (into his room).'

In the location constructions in (247a), it is expressed that Jan has been involved in a jumping event as a result of which he has obtained some position on the stairs. The construction in (247b), on the other hand, does not imply that, after finishing the activity, Jan is situated on the stairs; this may or may not be the case, which is clear from the fact that it is possible to add an adverbial phrase like naar zijn kamer'to his room', which refers to the endpoint of the path covered by Jan; with this adverbial phrase added, the perfect tense example in (247b) suggests that Jan is in his room. Adding this adverbial phrase to (247a), on the other hand, give rise to an unacceptable result. Note that the number sign in (247a) indicates that the naar-PP can marginally be construed as an attributive modifier of the noun trap.
Another difference is that locational prepositional phrases cannot occur as the complement of verbs of traversing (verbs that denote movement along a certain path) like rijden'to drive', fietsen'to cycle', etc. In order to see this, we have to consider perfect-tense constructions, since a verb like rijden is actually ambiguous between a normal activity verb, in which case it takes the auxiliary hebben, and a verb of traversing, in which case it takes the auxiliary zijn. Thus, in (248a) we are dealing with the activity verb rijden, and it is expressed that the event of driving takes place on the mountain. In (248b), on the other hand, we are dealing with a verb of traversing, and it is expressed that Jan is moving along a path up the mountain.

248

a.	Jan heeft/*?is	op de berg	gereden.
	Jan has	on the mountain	driven
	'Jan has driven on the mountain.'

b.	Jan is/*heeft	de berg	op	gereden.
	Jan has	the mountain	onto	driven
	'Jan has driven up the mountain.'

Note in passing that the grammaticality of both (247a) and (247b) suggests that the unaccusative verb springen can be used both as a motion verb and as a verb of traversing. Note also that the intransitive version of springen, which takes the auxiliary hebben, just acts like an activity verb: Jan heeft op de trap gesprongen'Jan has jumped on the stairs' simply expresses that the activity of jumping takes place on the stairs.
Related to this difference between the two examples in (248) is that example (249a) doesnʼt imply anything about the position of Jan after the activity has finished: it may be the case that he ends his activity at the same place that he started it. This is, however, impossible in the case of (249b): Jan must have traversed the path up the mountain for three kilometers, so that his end position is a position higher on the mountain than his starting position.

249

a.	Jan heeft	drie kilometer	op de berg	gereden.
	Jan has	three kilometers	on the mountain	driven
	'Jan has driven three kilometers on the mountain.'

b.	Jan is	drie kilometer	de berg	op	gereden.
	Jan has	three kilometers	the mountain	onto	driven
	'Jan has driven three kilometers onto the mountain.'

[+] II. A classification of postpositions

Having recapitulated the main semantic differences between pre- and postpositional phrases, we can now turn to the meaning of the individual spatial postpositions in Table 7, which is repeated here for convenience as Table 18 in a slightly different form. The conclusion to the discussion will be that, generally speaking, there is only one group of postpositions, which corresponds to the inherent prepositions in Table 17: the deictic and absolute prepositions in this table do not have postpositional counterparts.

Table 18: Spatial postpositions (repeated)

postposition	example	translation
af	het veld af rennen	to run from the field
binnen	het huis binnen gaan	to go into the house
door	het hek door lopen	to walk through the gate
in	het huis in gaan	to go into the house
langs	de beek langs wandelen	to walk along the brook
om	de hoek om gaan	to turn the corner
op	het veld op rennen	to run onto the field
over	het grasveld over rennen	to run across the lawn
rond	?het meer rond wandelen	to walk around the lake
uit	de auto uit stappen	to step out of the car
voorbij	het huis voorbij rijden	to drive past the house

[+] A. Postpositions that correspond to deictic prepositions

When we compare the list of postpositions in Table 18 with the classification of spatial prepositions in Table 17, we see that there is no deictic preposition with a postpositional counterpart. This is remarkable since the deictic prepositions can also be used inherently and the vast majority of postpositions correspond to the inherent prepositions.

[+] B. Postpositions that correspond to absolute prepositions

Very few absolute prepositions in Table 17 have a postpositional counterpart. For the inherently directional ones like naar'to' this is not surprising given that they already denote a path. The only directional preposition that has a postpositional counterpart is voorbij'past', but this is not surprising either since this preposition can sometimes also be used as a locational preposition; see example (199 in Section 1.3.1.2.2, sub II).

250

a.		Goirle ligt	even	voorbij	Tilburg.	locational reading
		Goirle lies	just	past	Tilburg

b.		Jan reed	Tilburg	voorbij.	directional reading
		Jan drove	Tilburg	past

Of the non-directional absolute prepositions, only om'around' and rond'around' can be used as postpositions. The use of om is very restricted. It can actually only be used in the more or less fixed combinations in (251a&b); examples such as (251c) are unacceptable.

251

a.	Jan ging	de hoek	om.
	Jan went	the corner	around
	'Jan turned the corner.'

b.	Jan ging	een blokje	om.
	Jan went	a blokje	around
	'Jan took a walk.'

c.	*	Jan liep	de tafel	om.
		Jan walked	the table	around

The postposition rond is more common. In addition to more or less fixed combinations like (252a), it also occurs in (perhaps slightly marked) examples such as (252b).

252

a.		Jan reisde	de wereld	rond.
		Jan traveled	the world	around

b.	(?)	Jan wandelde	het meer	rond.
		Jan walked	the lake	around

Perhaps the limited use of the postpositions om/rond is due to the fact, discussed in Section 1.3.1.2.2, that their prepositional counterparts can sometimes at least marginally be used directionally; cf. the discussion of (195c). That they have this ability is also supported by the fact that a prepositional phrase can be used in constructions such as (253), in which the PP denotes the extent of the road; as we have seen in examples (210) and (214) (in Section 1.3.1.2.2, sub II), the extent reading typically involves directional PPs.

253

De weg	loopt	rond/om de stad.
the road	walks	around the city
'The road goes around the city.'

[+] C. Postpositions that correspond to inherent prepositions

The vast majority of postpositions that can be productively used correspond to inherent prepositions. Three groups can be distinguished.

[+] 1. In/binnen'into/inside', uit'out of' and door'through'

The first group of postpositions is characterized by the fact that the interior of the reference object is part of the implied path. The postpositional phrases headed by in and binnen in (254) express that the reference object is the endpoint of the path; the starting point is, however, exterior to the reference object. Note that binnen cannot be used if the postpositional phrase has an extent reading or functions as a modifier of a noun phrase.

254

a.	Jan liep	de stad	in/binnen.
	Jan walked	the town	into
	'Jan walked into the town.'

b.	de weg	loopt	de stad	in/*binnen
	the road	walks	the town	into
	'the road leads into town'

c.	de weg	de stad	in/*binnen
	the road	the town	into
	'the road into the town'

The postpositional phrase headed by uit in (255) expresses that the reference object is the starting point of the path, but the endpoint is exterior to it. Observe that, whereas binnen in (254a) can be used as a postposition in predicatively used postpositional phrases, its antonym buiten in (255a) cannot.

255

a.	Jan liep	de stad	uit/*buiten.
	Jan walked	the town	out.of
	'Jan walked out of the town.'

b.	de weg	loopt	de stad	uit
	the road	walked	the town	out.of
	'the road leads out of town'

c.	de weg	de stad	uit
	the road	the town	out.of
	'the road out of the town'

The postpositional phrase headed by door in (256), finally, expresses that the reference object is a subpart of the path: both the starting and the end points of the path are exterior to it. Note in passing that the preposition door can also be used in directional constructions; see the discussion of (235) and (236 (in Section 1.3.1.2.3)) for the difference between the two directional uses of door.

256

a.	Jan liep	de tunnel	door.
	Jan walked	the tunnel	through
	'Jan walked through the tunnel.'

b.	de weg	de tunnel	door
	the road	the tunnel	through
	'the road through the tunnel'

The claim that in and binnen take the interior of the reference object as the endpoint of the implied path is supported by the fact that we can infer from (254a) that Jan is in town after completion of the event. The claim that uit denotes a path with an endpoint exterior to the reference object is supported by the fact that we can infer from (254b) that Jan is put of town after completion of the event. Note in passing that we cannot substitute uit for buiten in (257b'), which indicates that after completion of the event there is no longer any contact between the located and the reference object; cf. the discussion of example (228).

257

Jan liep de stad in/binnen. ⇒

a'.	Jan bevindt	zich	in de stad.
	Jan is.situated	refl	in the town
	'Jan is in town.'

Jan liep de stad uit. ⇒

b'.	Jan bevindt	zich	buiten de stad.
	Jan is.situated	refl	outside the town
	'Jan is outside (not in) the town.'

The postpositions in and binnen in (254a) seem to be more or less equivalent. They differ, however, in that the latter requires that the located object end up in a position in the interior of the reference object, whereas the former does not. This is clear from the fact that binnen cannot be used in (258a), where it is implied that some subpart of the nail has not entered the wall. Example (258b) shows that the postposition uit'out of' does not require that the located object be (fully) removed from the reference object. This shows that the postpositions behave in a way similar to the corresponding prepositions in this respect; cf. the discussion of Figure 23 and 25 (in Sub 1.3.1.2.3, sub II).

258

a.		Jan sloeg	de spijker	(slechts)	één cm	de muur	in/*binnen.
		Jan hit	the nail	only	one cm	the wall	into

b.		Jan trok	de spijker	(slechts)	één cm	de muur	uit/*buiten.
		Jan drew	the nail	only	one cm	the wall	out.of

[+] 2. Op'on', af'from' and over'over'.

The second group of postpositions is characterized by the fact that the path goes along the surface of the reference object. The postposition op'onto' indicates that the end but not the starting point of the path is situated on the reference object, while af'from' indicates that the starting but not the endpoint of the path is situated on the reference object. In the case of over neither the starting point nor the endpoint of the path is situated on the reference object but some subpart of the path is. The respective paths of the postpositional phrases in (257) are illustrated in Figure 30.

259

a.	De supporter	rende	het veld	op.
	the fan	ran	the field	onto
	'The fan ran onto the field.'

b.	De supporter	rende	het veld	af.
	the fan	ran	the field	from
	'The fan ran from the field.'

c.	De supporter	rende	het veld	over.
	the fan	ran	the field	across
	'The fan ran across the field.'

Figure 30: Op'onto', af'from', over'across'

The claim that op implies that the endpoint of the implied path is situated on the surface of the reference object is supported by the fact that we can infer from (259a) that the fan is on the field after completion of the event. The claim that af denotes a path with an endpoint exterior to the reference is supported by the fact that we can infer from (254b) that the fan is not on the field after completion of the event.

260

De supporter rende het veld op. ⇒

a'.	De supporter	bevindt	zich	op het veld.
	the fan	is.situated	refl.	on the field
	'The fan is on the field.'

De supporter rende

het veld

af. ⇒

b'.	De supporter	bevindt	zich	buiten het veld.
	the fan	is.situated	refl	outside the field
	'The fan isnʼt on the field.'

The precise interpretation of these postpositions also depends on the properties of the reference object: whereas in the case of a field the proper English translation of op and af are “onto” and “from”, the proper renderings would instead be “up” and “down” if we are dealing with, e.g., a mountain. Although intuitions are not as clear as they were for the examples in (260), the core semantics in Figure 30 also seems present in (261): example (261a) seems preferably interpreted in such a way that only the endpoint of the implied path is situated on the mountain; example (261b) seems preferably interpreted in such a way that only the starting point is situated on the mountain (although this implication is not as strong as in the case of the circumpositional phrase van de berg af).

261

a.	Jan	reed	de berg	op.
	Jan	drove	the mountain	onto
	'Jan drove up the mountain.'

b.	Jan reed	de berg	af.
	Jan drove	the mountain	from
	'Jan drove down the mountain.'

[+] 3. Langs'along'

The third group has only one member, the adposition langs'along', and implies that the path is more or less parallel to the length dimension of the reference object. In this respect the pre- and postposition langs in (262) behave in a similar way, as will also be clear from a comparison of Figure 31A below with Figure 20 in Section 1.3.1.2.3.

262

a.		Jan wandelt vaak langs de rivier	preposition
		Jan walks often along the river

b.		Jan wandelt	vaak	de rivier langs.	postposition
		Jan walks	often	the river along

The difference between the pre- and postposition langs is often not very clear, which may be due to the fact that the prepositional phrase in (262a) can also be used directionally. First, the examples in (263) show that the verb wandelen'to walk' can take either the auxiliary hebben or zijn in the perfect tense. As with other spatial PPs, we expect that in (263a) the PP is locational (the activity of walking takes place along the river), whereas (263b) has a change of location reading. On the latter reading, the implication should be that Jan is situated along the river as the result of the walking event, but this reading is not prominent, to say the least. The more prominent reading of (263b) is a directional one; Jan has to cover a path along the river. Note that this directional reading can also be found in example (263b'), in which the langs-PP functions as an (optional) adverbial phrase that characterizes the course and the predicative naar-PP expresses the endpoint of the path.

263

a.		Jan heeft	langs de rivier	gewandeld.
		Jan has	along the river	walked

b.		Jan is	langs de rivier	gewandeld.
		Jan has	along the river	walked

b'.		Jan is	(langs de rivier)	naar Breda	gewandeld.
		Jan has	along the river	to Breda	walked

Second, the prepositional phrase can also be used in constructions such as (264), in which the langs-PP denotes the extent of the road: as we have seen in examples (210) and (214) in Section 1.3.1.2.2, sub II, the extent reading typically involves directional PPs.

264

a.	De weg	loopt	langs de rivier.
	the road	walks	along the river
	'The road extends along the river.'

b.		de weg	langs de rivier
		the road	along the river

The discussion above strongly suggests that the preposition langs can sometimes also be used directionally. The difference between directional pre- and postpositional langs may be related to the dimensional properties of the reference object. If the reference object is very long, as in (262) and (263), the path denoted by langs may be either smaller or larger than the length of the reference object; if it is relatively short, as in (265), the default interpretation seems to be that the path is longer than the length of the object (see Figure 31B). Given the marked status of (265b), langs preferably surfaces as a preposition in the latter case.

265

a.	Jan fietst	elke dag	langs de kerk.
	Jan cycles	every day	along the church
	'Jan cycles everyday past the church.'

Jan fietst elke dag de kerk langs.

Figure 31: Langs'along'

In (265), the paths extend along the horizontal dimension of the reference object. Example (266) shows that the path may also extend in the vertical dimension.

266

dat Jan	langs het touw/de muur	geklommen	is.
that Jan	along the rope/the wall	climbed	is
'that Jan has climbed along the rope/wall.'

Superficially seen, it seems that the direction of the vertical path can be further specified by means of the elements omhoog/omlaag'upwards/downwards', as in (267a). This is not, however, the proper analysis of this example. The fact, illustrated in (267b), that the PP langs het touw/de muur is optional and can undergo PP-over-V shows that we are dealing with a particle verb, omhoog/omlaag klimmen, which may be modified by an adverbial locational PP headed by langs.

267

a.	dat Jan	langs het touw/de muur	omhoog/omlaag	geklommen	is.
	that Jan	along the rope/the wall	upwards/downwards	climbed	is
	'that Jan has climbed upwards/downwards along the rope/wall.'

dat Jan omhoog/omlaag geklommen is (langs het touw/de muur).

This shows that example (267a) must be analyzed like example (263b') above, which also involves an adverbial locational PP headed by langs. That this is indeed the case is also clear from (268), which shows that the particle omhoog/omlaag can be readily be replaced by the predicative PP naar boven.

268

a.	dat Jan	(langs het touw/de muur)	naar boven	geklommen	is.
	that Jan	along the rope/the wall	upwards	climbed	is
	'that Jan has climbed upwards along the rope/wall.'

dat Jan naar boven geklommen is langs het touw/de muur.

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: Adpositionsafbinnenbuitendoorinlangsomomhoogopoverronduitvan ... afvoorbij

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis	December 2015

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