Linguist Forum
Specializations => Morphosyntax => Topic started by: zaba on March 21, 2014, 12:20:37 AM
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Is there a distinction to be made between a prepositional clause and a prepositional phrase? I have the intuition that a prep clause may include PPs, but I'm not sure.
Is every prep clause a PP?
Is every PP a prep clause?
Ugh. Terminology.
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What's a prepositional clause? Do you mean a P being used as Comp? I don't think that the standard analysis is to consider those as a special kind of clause. It's interesting but not otherwise noteworthy.
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Well, I think of making a distinction between a PP that is a NP (that's a prepositional clause) and a PP that's VP (that's a prepositional phrase).
As an example of a prepositional clause would be "in a box", "in your stomach", "on the rooftop" , "to my castle".
Assuming that such a distinction is morphologically motivated, would these terms make sense?
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Well, I think of making a distinction between a PP that is a NP (that's a prepositional clause) and a PP that's VP (that's a prepositional phrase).
There are two different kinds of PPs within NPs (see my thread question on adjunct versus complement in this subforum) that form different phrase trees. I don't think I've heard anyone refer to them as clauses. They are referred to as prepositional phrases in any and every position.
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Well, I think of making a distinction between a PP that is a NP (that's a prepositional clause) and a PP that's VP (that's a prepositional phrase).
As an example of a prepositional clause would be "in a box", "in your stomach", "on the rooftop" , "to my castle".
Assuming that such a distinction is morphologically motivated, would these terms make sense?
I don't understand the distinction. All four examples you've quote above look like standard prepositional phrases to me. Could you give a full sentence exemplifying a "prepositional phrase" and a full sentence exemplifying a "prepositional clause"?
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Before I go off a tangent, how do you fellas differentiate a phrase from a clause?
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A phrase is any set of words (that forms a constituent). A clause is a type of phrase that contains a verb/predicate.
The PPs above are unquestionably not clauses because they do not contain predicates, just nouns.
If is possible in a language with no overt copula to have a PP as a predicate. Roughly like "I at the house" but the examples above don't have subjects. And I don't know of languages that allow nonverbal predicates without overt subjects. (Arabic is an example of a language that requires subjects only with nonverbal predicates for example.) Regardless, those would still be PPs even if used as predicates.
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If is possible in a language with no overt copula to have a PP as a predicate. Roughly like "I at the house" but the examples above don't have subjects. And I don't know of languages that allow nonverbal predicates without overt subjects.
This is one such language that can do 'I at the house'. Does this change my analysis of prep clause vs PP?
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It's a PP. Is it a full sentence also?
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It's certainly a sentence. yes.
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If is possible in a language with no overt copula to have a PP as a predicate. Roughly like "I at the house" but the examples above don't have subjects. And I don't know of languages that allow nonverbal predicates without overt subjects.
This is one such language that can do 'I at the house'. Does this change my analysis of prep clause vs PP?
Hebrew also has verbless clauses, such as “I in the car” and “he at work.” It’s simply a lack of the present tense of the verb “to be,” there are instances in which a personal pronoun is used to emphasize the link. We say things like “the keys they on the table.” ;)
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Jase, the subject pronoun is required in Hebrew as far as I know. The linking one is optional but the topic pronoun or full NP (the keys) is required. I was wondering if that's also true for the language Zaba was describing.
Zaba, are you asking about a full sentence including a subject or just the PP itself? I don't see how only the PP is a clause by itself, but it can be the predicate in a verbless sentence.
As for a term, I'm not sure of the best one. Null copula, verbless sentence, etc. in traditional Arabic grammar, there is a distinction between verbal and nominal sentences based on type of predicate. Effectively, a PP is a subtype of the nominal kind, because there is no agreement.