Postpositions

Abstract

As function words postpositions play a very important role in the syntax of Turkish. These elements are regarded as lexical items conveying some kind of abstract meaning relevant for their complement. Most postpositions require the complement to take a fixed case marker; thereby excluding the accusative. A postposition plus its complement is called a postpositional phrase and functions as an adverbial phrase. There are various postpositions expressing spatial relations such as direction and location, another small group expresses temporal relations such as beginning, duration, end, and also excess, but a sizeable series of notions can be expressed by one particular postposition only: instrument, company, means of transportation, quality, quantity, inclusion, exclusion, difference, and the like. The final section describes the nominal and adjectival properties of a small number of postpositions.