Typological characteristics of prepositions

TYPOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FUNCTIONAL WORDS

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Prepositions in English and Ukrainian are characterized by both the isomorphic and allomorphic features. Isomorphism is clearly observed in the morphological structure of prepositions which can be as follows

In English	In Ukrainian
Simple:at, in, on, of, with Compound:inside, into, within, without, throughout, etc. Derivative:along, below, beside, inside Composite(Phrasal): by means of, be­cause of, in accordance with, owing to	Прості: в, з, о, під,на, за, при, без Складні:із-за, з понад, попід, поперед, по­серед, проміж Похідні:внаслідок, завдяки, коло, круг, по­верх, поперек Складені:всправі, на відміну від, у зв'язку з, поруч з, згідно з, незалежно від

The only structural difference, therefore, is in the group of simple prepositions, among which there are some (in Ukrainian) consisting of a single consonant (в, у, о, з).

Mainly common are the parts of speech from which many preposi­tions are formed (except the diyepryslivnyk). They are:

a) nouns: beside, in front of, in accordance with — внаслідок, у зв'язку з, слідом за, коло, кругом.

b) verbals (participles, diyepryslivnyks): owing to, concerning, inclu­ding- включаючи, завдяки, зважаючи.

c) adverbs (the largest number): along, before, down, among — близько, довкола, ззаду, обабіч, серед, etc.

The lехісo grammatical meaning of prepositions as semi-notional words-is isomorphic as well. Prepositions may lie temporal (before noon, after that, during the war, since Monday, until he came, etc.); local (along the road, across the street, among the books, in front of me, behind/over the house); causal (because of that, in view of all this), or pervasive (he poured water all over me).

Prepositions are characterized by an almost exclusive bilateral combinability with any left-hand notional and a right-hand nominal part of speech/its equivalent.

noun noun

verb verb/gerund

adjective pronoun

pronoun preposition adjective

numeral numeral

adverb word-group

stative

A preposition expressing a relation between two entities forms a prepositional complement with the right-hand component. The latter is almost always morphologically amorphous, except when it is a personal or an interrogative/relative who-pronoun having in English an objective case form, eg: done by him/them, promised by whom, etc. Ukrainian prepositional complements are almost entirely marked by case inflexions, i. e., governed (cf. книжка для неї /Марії, лист від товариша, троє з товаришів, засмаглий на сонці, легко на душі).

In titles, however, prepositions may have a right-hand combinability only, eg: " To a skylark" (Shelley). " Of Human Bondage" (Maugham), " Under the Greenwood Tree" (T. Hardy), «До Основ'яненка» (Шев­ченко), До Мого Фортеп'яно» (Л. Українка), «Під Мінаретами». (Коцюбинський)

A peculiar feature of English is a postposed use of prepositions in interrogative sentences (What paper have you subscribed to?): in exclamations (What an accident he's got in!), or in infinitive clauses (She's impossible to work with ).

In accord with their meaning prepositions in the contrasted langua­ges may express various syntactic relations, the main of which are as follows:

1. Agentive relations: the play written by Shakespeare — бути під чиєюсь високою рукою/під орудою. 2. Objective relations: to he angry/ satisfied with somebody — сердитись на когось, помиритися з кимсь. 3. Attributive relations: birds of a feather, the man in question това­риші no школі, друзі з Канади. 4. Various adverbial relations: a) tem­poral: to depart on Monday, to arrive in spring — відбудувати в поне­ділок, приїхати в березні/через півроку; b) local: in the cottage, behind the fence, in front of the house — у хаті, за тином, під лісом; с) of direc­tion: into the room, go out of (he room, he went to the door — у кім­нату/з кімнати, зайдіть до хати; d) of manner or comparison: to look in astonishment, the air come in a warm wave — глянути з поди­вом; радощів у серці через край (Тичина); е) of attending circum­stances: winter set in early and unexpectedly with a heavy fall of snow (Cronin) — зима прийшла з снігопадами; f) of cause: My dog pants with the heat — собака задихається від спеки. Троє діток на віспу вмерли. (Федькович); g) of concession: they continued their way despite the rain, he would do it inspite of the obstacles. Чорнявому зрадливому на лютеє горе... (Шевченко). Він приїде незважаючи на хворобу; h) of possession: books of his brother, the windows of the cottage. Стояв генерал... при всіх орденах (Японський). Отже, будемо й ми при розумі. (Головко). 5. Various other relations: a) Relations of resemblence: she is like her mother (він як його батько), b) Relations of subordination: to be secretary to the firm manager — бути секрета­рем у посла, с) Relations of dissociation: to be devoid of suspicion — бути вільним від підозри, etc.

These are most, but far from all, of the relations expressed by prepositions in English and Ukrainian. Allomorphism is observed only in the nature of the syntactic functions of prepositions. These are linking in English, where prepositions generally do not require any case form from the right-hand nominal component (cf. a book of my brother, toys for the child, four of the boys). But: written by him, sent to them, books for us, etc.).

In Ukrainian, on the other hand, prepositions govern nouns, pro­nouns, numerals, substantivized adjectives and nominal word-groups, eg: праця в садку/в полі, лежати під грушею) під дубом, лист від нього/від першого, захист від польових гризунів, etc.

Ukrainian prepositions may be used with nominals in a certain case form only, as for instance, in genitive case (без, біля, від. для, до та ін.) or with two cases, for example, with accusative and instrumental case (над, під, перед), and sometimes with three cases (з, за, між, у): у житті, у відповідь; з горя/горем.

Ukrainian prepositions may perform a purely linking function (when used with unchangeable foreigh nouns), cf. їхати в таксі, вийти;. метро, ходити без кольє, бути в кімоно/сарі, народитися в Туапсе.

The syntactic functions of prepositional phrases are common in both languages. They may be as subject, predicative'(this is for me to decide), as an attribute or as an adverbial modifier. In other words, they may be complements to verbs, adjectives (sorry for something) attributive or adverbial adjuncts (books for reading, singing in the room), disjuncts (to my surprise, the student answered well), conjuncts (on the other hand, she was free).

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11