Adpositions

Revision as of 23:54, 26 July 2012

Adpositions are connecting words used for a wide range of syntactic and semantic functions, most commonly modification and complementation.

Natural Language

Natural language adpositions are classified as prepositions, when preceding a phrase; as postpositions, when following a phrase; and as circumpositions, when surrounding a phrase:

Lists of prepositions

English prepositions

UNL

Natural language adpositions are expected to be explicitly represented in UNL by relations or by relations and attributes.

Adpositions as relations

As words that connect two other words, adpositions are always represented in UNL as relations:

agt = by

ben = for

dur = during

frm = from

gol = to

ins = with

man = as

met = by

mod = of

opl = in

per = per

plc = in

plf = from

plt = to

pof = of

pos = of

ptn = with

pur = for

scn = in

src = from

tim = in

tmf = since

tmt = until

to = to

via = through

Adpositions as attributes

Adpositions are also represented as attributes when they assign specific values to general relations. For instance:

the book is in the box

the relation "plc" (place) is sufficient to represent the meaning intended by "in" and no attribute is necessary: plc(book, box)

the book is under the box

the relation "plc" (place) is too generic to represent the meaning intended by "under" and the attribute @under is necessary: plc(book, box.@under)

For the time being, adpositions have been represented by their English correspondents.

@aboard

@about

@above

@according_to

@across

@after

@against

@ahead_of

@along

@alongside

@amid

@among

@apart_from

@around

@as

@as_far_as

@as_of

@as_per

@as_regards

@as_well_as

@aside

@aside_from

@astride

@at

@athwart

@atop

@barring

@because_of

@before

@behind

@below

@beneath

@beside

@besides

@between

@beyond

@but

@by

@by_means_of

@circa

@close_to

@concerning

@despite

@down

@due_to

@during

@except

@except_for

@excluding

@failing

@far_from

@following

@for

@from

@from_on

@given

@in

@in_accordance_with

@in_addition_to

@in_case_of

@in_favor_of

@in_front_of

@in_place_of

@in_spite_of

@in_terms_of

@including

@inside

@inside_of

@instead_of

@into

@like

@mid

@near

@near_to

@next

@next_to

@notwithstanding

@of

@off

@on

@on_account_of

@on_behalf_of

@on_top_of

@onto

@opposite

@out

@out_from

@out_of

@outside

@outside_of

@over

@owing_to

@pace

@per

@prior_to

@pursuant_to

@qua

@regarding

@regardless_of

@round

@save

@since

@subsequent_to

@than

@thanks_to

@that_of

@through

@throughout

@to

@toward

@towards

@under

@underneath

@unlike

@until

@up

@upon

@versus

@via

@with

@with_regard_to

@with_relation_to

@with_respect_to

@within

@without

@worth