Postpositional complements

Abstract

Postpositions can be classified according to several criteria, one of which is the type of complement one of them can take. In this chapter person-bound complements are distinguished from temporal phrases and from purpose phrases. The reason is that person-bound complements all contain a nominalized verb plus a personal (possessive) ending, whereas the other two types have other verbal forms. Temporal phrases have a deverbal suffix, and purpose phrases are all based on an infinitival verb form. A type of complement which typically occurs with the instrumental and case-marker annex postposition is phrases specifying circumstance or detail. This specification is based on a kind of sentence, a “small clause,” which always contains a locative phrase, including an element reminiscent of the anticipatory possessive. The final section discusses the properties of postpositions in predicate and attributive position.