Editing Adposition (section)

==Semantic functions==

Adpositions can be used to express a wide range of [[semantics|semantic]] relations between their complement and the rest of the context. The relations expressed may be spatial (denoting location or direction), temporal (denoting position in time), or relations expressing comparison, content, agent, instrument, means, manner, cause, purpose, reference, etc.

Most common adpositions are highly [[Polysemy|polysemous]] (they have various different meanings). In many cases, a primary, spatial meaning becomes extended to non-spatial uses by [[metaphor]]ical or other processes. Because of the variety of meanings, a single adposition often has many possible equivalents in another language, depending on the exact context. This can cause difficulties in foreign [[language learning]]. Usage can also vary between dialects of the same language (for example, [[American English]] has ''on the weekend'', whereas [[British English]] uses ''at the weekend'').

In some contexts (as in the case of some [[phrasal verb]]s) the choice of adposition may be determined by another element in the construction or be fixed by the construction as a whole. Here the adposition may have little independent semantic content of its own, and there may be no clear reason why the particular adposition is used rather than another. Examples of such expressions are:
* English: ''dispense '''with''''', ''listen '''to''''', ''insist '''on''''', ''proud '''of''''', ''good '''at'''''
* [[Russian language|Russian]]: ''otvechat' '''na''' vopros'' ("answer the question", literally "answer on the question"), ''obvinenie '''v''' obmane'' ("accusation of [literally: in] fraud")
* [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''soñar '''con''' ganar el título'' ("dream about [lit. with] winning the title"), ''consistir '''en''' dos grupos'' ("consist of [lit. in] two groups")

Prepositions sometimes mark roles that may be considered largely grammatical:
* [[Possession (linguistics)|possession]] (in a broad sense) – ''the pen '''of''' my aunt'' (sometimes marked by [[genitive]] or [[possessive]] forms)
* the agent in [[passive voice|passive]] constructions – ''killed '''by''' a lone gunman''
* the recipient of a transfer – ''give it '''to''' him'' (sometimes marked by a [[dative]] or an [[indirect object]])

Spatial meanings of adpositions may be either ''directional'' or ''static''. A directional meaning usually involves motion in a particular direction ("Kay went '''to''' the store"), the direction in which something leads or points ("A path '''into''' the woods"), or the extent of something ("The fog stretched '''from''' London '''to''' Paris"). A static meaning indicates only a location ("'''at''' the store", "'''behind''' the chair", "'''on''' the moon"). Some prepositions can have both uses: "he sat '''in''' the water" (static); "he jumped in the water" (probably directional). In some languages, the [[grammatical case|case]] of the complement varies depending on the meaning, as with several prepositions in [[German grammar|German]], such as ''in'':
* ''in seinem Zimmer'' ("in his room", static meaning, takes the [[dative]])
* ''in sein Zimmer'' ("into his room", directional meaning, takes the [[accusative]])

In English and many other languages, prepositional phrases with static meaning are commonly used as [[predicative expression]]s after a [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] ("Bob is at the store"); this may happen with some directional prepositions as well ("Bob is from Australia"), but this is less common. Directional prepositional phrases combine mostly with verbs that indicate movement ("Jay is going into her bedroom", but not *"Jay is lying down into her bedroom").

Directional meanings can be further divided into ''[[telicity|telic]]'' and ''atelic''. Telic prepositional phrases imply movement all the way to the endpoint ("she ran to the fence"), while atelic ones do not ("she ran towards the fence").<ref>Zwarts, Joost. 2005. "Prepositional Aspect and the Algebra of Paths." ''Linguistics and Philosophy'' 28.6, 739–779.</ref>

Static meanings can be divided into ''projective'' and ''non-projective'', where projective meanings are those whose understanding requires knowledge of the perspective or point of view. For example, the meaning of "behind the rock" is likely to depend on the position of the speaker (projective), whereas the meaning of "on the desk" is not (non-projective). Sometimes the interpretation is ambiguous, as in "behind the house," which may mean either at the natural back of the house or on the opposite side of the house from the speaker.<ref>Creswell, Max. 1978. "Prepositions and points of view." ''Linguistics and Philosophy'', 2: 1–41.</ref>