This thesis by publication presents a study on English adpositions (e.g. to, in, at, from, in frontof, through). It attempts to offer a solution to the following three outstanding problems, whichare presented in each of the three parts making up the thesis, preceded by a general introduction(chapter 1) and followed by the general conclusions (chapter 7). The first part includes chapter2, and discusses the problem of What is the relation between adpositions and the non-linguistic,visual content they represent. The second part includes chapters 3 and 4, and discusses theproblem ofwhat is a proper compositional theory of the Syntax and Semantics of adpositions.The third part includes chapters 5 and 6, and discusses the problem of what is the psychologicalreality of this theory, regarding adults and children’s data.The following three solutions are suggested. First, the relation between adpositions and theircorresponding visual information is an isomorphism: adpositions capture how we “see” possiblespatio-temporal relations between objects, at a flexible level of fine-grainedness. Second, aproper compositional treatment of adpositions treats each syntactic unit (in front, of ) as offeringa distinct semantic contribution, hence spelling out a restricted instance of a spatio-temporalpart-of relation. Third, this compositional treatment of adpositions can also stand as a theory ofon-line interpretation in adults and a theory of their acquisition in children.These three answers are couched within a single theoretical approach, that of Discourse Representation Theory, and offer a unified solution to three apparently distinct problems regardingspatial adpositions and their linguistic properties.

This thesis by publication presents a study on English adpositions (e.g. to, in, at, from, in frontof, through). It attempts to offer a solution to the following three outstanding problems, whichare presented in each of the three parts making up the thesis, preceded by a general introduction(chapter 1) and followed by the general conclusions (chapter 7). The first part includes chapter2, and discusses the problem of What is the relation between adpositions and the non-linguistic,visual content they represent. The second part includes chapters 3 and 4, and discusses theproblem ofwhat is a proper compositional theory of the Syntax and Semantics of adpositions.The third part includes chapters 5 and 6, and discusses the problem of what is the psychologicalreality of this theory, regarding adults and children’s data.The following three solutions are suggested. First, the relation between adpositions and theircorresponding visual information is an isomorphism: adpositions capture how we “see” possiblespatio-temporal relations between objects, at a flexible level of fine-grainedness. Second, aproper compositional treatment of adpositions treats each syntactic unit (in front, of ) as offeringa distinct semantic contribution, hence spelling out a restricted instance of a spatio-temporalpart-of relation. Third, this compositional treatment of adpositions can also stand as a theory ofon-line interpretation in adults and a theory of their acquisition in children.These three answers are couched within a single theoretical approach, that of Discourse Representation Theory, and offer a unified solution to three apparently distinct problems regardingspatial adpositions and their linguistic properties.

The research in this thesis examines the influence that both geometric and extrageometric factors have on children's spatial language production. Over the years it has widely been assumed that spatial prepositions identif' where objects are in the world (geometric factors) and that this is reflected in the semantic representations of these words. More recently, researchers investigating the lexical semantics of spatial prepositions have begun to question this assumption by demonstrating that what objects are and how they are interacting can also affect the way we describe where they are in the world (extra-geometric factors). Following on from research conducted with adults that has demonstrated the importance of both of these factors on spatial language, the main aim of this thesis was to ascertain for the first time whether these factors also influenced children's spatial language production, and if so, when they became important in children's development of spatial expressions. Additionally, due to the paucity of research investigating the production of spatial terms, the Experiments reported in this theis set out to redress the balance. The research in this thesis demonstrated for the first time that both geometric and extra geometric factors influence the production of children's spatial expressions from an early age. In doing so, however, the Experiments reported here were not necessarily revealing as to the nature of the semantic representation of spatial terms, rather they highlighted a different issue; how people make distinctions during a verbal interaction. Evidence is presented that suggests a level of agreement between people regarding the nonconventional use of words. In order to distinguish between functional and non-functional situations, both adults and children used different types of spatial terms to locate an object even when they had a limited number of words in their lexicon. An approach to the whole process of prepositional production is suggested rather than concentrating on what is represented in an individual's lexicon.

The present diploma thesis is concerned with English non-prepositional equivalents of the Czech v/ve and z/ze prepositional phrases. This type of equivalent is found in approximately 20% of cases (Klégr et al., 2011). The thesis shows that some of the divergent equivalents are conditioned lexically (different valency of the Czech and English verb), while others, being of systemic nature, are related to typological differences between Czech and English. Among the systemic counterparts are particularly English locative subjects in sentence-initial position correspoding to Czech adverbials, and English premodification by a noun translated into Czech as postmodification by a prepositional phrase. Material for the analytical part was extracted from the "Core" of the parallel corpus InterCorp, consisting of original Czech fiction texts and their English translations. A total of more than 200 divergent counterparts of both Czech prepositional phrases was collected.

Данная магистерская диссертация посвящена семантике английского предлога over. Также в рамках данной работы были рассмотрены различные подходы к описанию семантики пространственной лексики и факторы, влияющие на концептуализацию пространственной ситуации в языке. В работе доказывается, что описание семантической структуры предлога over является сложной задачей и требует объяснения широкого спектра языковых феноменов вследствие большого разнообразия его значений. Теоретическая часть работы посвящена способам описания семантики пространственной лексики; рассматриваются элементы пространственной схемы; подробно исследуются модели описания семантики предлогов, предложенные Л. Талми, А. Герсковитс и К. Ковентри. В ходе работы нами была описана семантическая структура английского предлога over, отражающая большинство случаев употребления предлога; выявлены факторы, влияющие на возможность/невозможность употребления предлога в определенном контексте, а также объяснены связи между различными значениями и описана модель взаимодействия предлога с контекстом высказывания. Для подтверждения полученных теоретических положений в практической части мы обращаемся к постановке эксперимента. Для проведения экспериментов нами была разработана интерактивная анкета-опросник в приложении Google docs и размещена на сайте гражданской науки scistarter.com для привлечения носителей языка для участия в эксперименте. В результате мы выяснили ряд параметров, влияющих на употребимость предлога over. / The master’s thesis is devoted to semantics of the English spatial preposition “over”. The author has highlighted various approaches to the description of spatial vocabulary and factors affecting the conceptualization of space within language. Semantic structure of “over” is considered to be a complex issue, as it requires taking into account a lot of linguistic phenomena due to the huge variety of its meanings. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with different ways of depicting the semantics of spatial vocabulary; it also demonstrates the elements of spatial schemes and models of description of the semantics of prepositions introduced by L. Talmy, A. Herskovits and K. Coventry. The author reveals the semantic structure of the English spatial preposition “over” and its usage; presents factors affecting the (im)possibility of using this preposition in a certain context; explains the relations between several meanings of “over” and introduces the model of interaction between the preposition and its immediate context. To support the theoretical claims the author has conducted an experiment. He has developed an interactive survey in Google docs and placed it on www.scistarter.com (a website of citizen science) to invite native speakers to join the experiment. As a result, the thesis offers several parameters affecting the usage of the English spatial preposition “over”.

Uppsatsen är en språkjämförande studie av svenskt och danskt spatialt prepositionsbruk. Den tar utgångspunkt i de tre prepositionerna på, i och till (til) som är identiska till formen i både svenska och danska och som därmed kan förväntas vara överensstämmande även i funktionen. Materialet utgörs dels av svenska och danska grammatikor, dels även av två romaner (en svensk och en dansk) och deras översättningar till respektive grannspråk. Målet har varit att undersöka hur prepositionerna används både som befintlighets- och riktningsmarkörer i förhållande till rekommenderat prepositionsbruk. Jag har även haft en förmodan om att det finns en viss divergens såväl som konvergens i det svenska och danska prepositionsbruket vilket jag har analyserat med hjälp av aspekter av den kognitiva semantiken. Jag har även sökt fastställa vilka svårigheter man kan påvisa ur ett översättningsperspektiv.             Resultatet av min undersökning visar att speciellt valet mellan i och på som befintlighetsmarkörer är problematiskt både inom respektive språk men även att det finns betydande skillnader mellan svenskan och danskan. Där på dominerar i svenskan gör danskan även stort bruk av i för befintlighet vilket ofta kan skapa interferens i ett översättningssammanhang. Ursprungsbetydelsen av i som varande inneslutande återfinns även i danskans bruk av denna preposition vid många tillfällen (till exempel i fraser som rör nöjeslokaler, fordon och institutioner) där på i stället dominerar i svenskan.  Divergerande bruk finner vi även i danskans val av till för befintlighet och ett väsentligt större bruk av ledsagande rumsadverb både vid befintlighets- och riktningsmarkering. Både forskningslitteratur om grannspråken och den svensk-danska lärobokslitteraturens framställning av ett oproblematiskt och konvergerande prepositionsbruk har därmed visat sig något missvisande och uppsatsens resultat pekar i stället på att fler språkjämförande studier i svensk-danskt prepositionsbruk behövs.

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo estudar os argumentos espaciais preposicionados selecionados por verbos de deslocamento de forma contrastiva em português e alemão. Para tanto, foram utilizados preceitos da gramática de valências e da gramática de casos que se pautam nos conceitos de centralidade do verbo (que seleciona os argumentos) e papel temático. Dentro do papel temático espacial, considera-se que é possível distinguir seis subtipos: origem, direção, percurso, trajetória, locativo e situativo. Para este trabalho foi feito o recolhimento de um corpus de ocorrências em português e alemão a partir de verbos de deslocamento que selecionam argumentos espaciais introduzidos por preposições. Essas ocorrências foram analisadas e classificadas semanticamente segundo os subtipos do papel espacial encontrados. Contrastando as ocorrências em português e alemão, foi possível verificar similaridades e diferenças entre as duas línguas. Foram observadas construções com o substantivo casa e Haus, a influência do verbo para a seleção do argumento espacial e as diferenças sutis entre os subtipos de papéis espaciais. Um grupo de verbos chamou a atenção por não permitir a classificação clara em um dos subgrupos. Para esses verbos, é levantada a hipótese de criação de mais um argumento espacial: o argumento espacial preposicionado de referência. / This masters thesis aims the study of prepositional spatial arguments that are taken by verbs of movement in a contrastive way in Portuguese and in German. In order to carry out this research, there were used concepts of the valency grammar and the case grammar that present the verb as the core of the sentence (which requires arguments) and the semantic role. Between the spatial semantic roles, it is considered that it is possible to find six subtypes: source, direction, path, trajectory, locative and situative. For this thesis it was collected a corpus of occurrences in Portuguese and German from verbs of movement that select spatial arguments introduced by prepositions. These occurrences were analyzed and semantically classified according to these subtypes of semantic roles. By contrasting the occurrences in Portuguese and German, it was possible to verify similarities and differences between both languages. There were observed constructions with the noun casa and Haus, the influence of the verb for the selection of the spatial argument and the small differences between the subtypes of spatial roles. A group of verbs caught the attention because they did not allow a clear classification in one of the subtypes. For these verbs it is raised the hypothesis of creation of another spatial argument: the spatial prepositional argument of reference.

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo estudar os argumentos espaciais preposicionados selecionados por verbos de deslocamento de forma contrastiva em português e alemão. Para tanto, foram utilizados preceitos da gramática de valências e da gramática de casos que se pautam nos conceitos de centralidade do verbo (que seleciona os argumentos) e papel temático. Dentro do papel temático espacial, considera-se que é possível distinguir seis subtipos: origem, direção, percurso, trajetória, locativo e situativo. Para este trabalho foi feito o recolhimento de um corpus de ocorrências em português e alemão a partir de verbos de deslocamento que selecionam argumentos espaciais introduzidos por preposições. Essas ocorrências foram analisadas e classificadas semanticamente segundo os subtipos do papel espacial encontrados. Contrastando as ocorrências em português e alemão, foi possível verificar similaridades e diferenças entre as duas línguas. Foram observadas construções com o substantivo casa e Haus, a influência do verbo para a seleção do argumento espacial e as diferenças sutis entre os subtipos de papéis espaciais. Um grupo de verbos chamou a atenção por não permitir a classificação clara em um dos subgrupos. Para esses verbos, é levantada a hipótese de criação de mais um argumento espacial: o argumento espacial preposicionado de referência. / This masters thesis aims the study of prepositional spatial arguments that are taken by verbs of movement in a contrastive way in Portuguese and in German. In order to carry out this research, there were used concepts of the valency grammar and the case grammar that present the verb as the core of the sentence (which requires arguments) and the semantic role. Between the spatial semantic roles, it is considered that it is possible to find six subtypes: source, direction, path, trajectory, locative and situative. For this thesis it was collected a corpus of occurrences in Portuguese and German from verbs of movement that select spatial arguments introduced by prepositions. These occurrences were analyzed and semantically classified according to these subtypes of semantic roles. By contrasting the occurrences in Portuguese and German, it was possible to verify similarities and differences between both languages. There were observed constructions with the noun casa and Haus, the influence of the verb for the selection of the spatial argument and the small differences between the subtypes of spatial roles. A group of verbs caught the attention because they did not allow a clear classification in one of the subtypes. For these verbs it is raised the hypothesis of creation of another spatial argument: the spatial prepositional argument of reference.

<p>The present work is concerned with projective prepositions, which express the relation between two objects by referring to a direction in three-dimensional space. The projective prepositions have been regarded as expressing simple schematic relations of a geometric nature. A theory of the apprehension of projective relations can account for their meanings when they express strictly geometric relations. However, many studies have shown that the appropriateness of the prepositions also depends on the functional relation between the objects and that a number of functional factors influence the comprehension of English prepositions. This experimental study investigates if the acceptability of the Swedish prepositions över, under, ovanför and nedanför are influenced by functional factors as well, and whether acceptability judgments about över and under are more sensitive to functional influences than judgments about ovanför and nedanför, as has been shown for the corresponding English prepositions over and under, and above and below, respectively. It also investigates how the shapes and the parts of the related objects influence their functional interaction, and how the acceptability of the prepositions is in consequence influenced by the shapes of the objects. It was found that the theory of apprehension can indeed account for the acceptability of the prepositions when the relation between the objects is strictly geometric. It was further found that acceptability judgments about them are influenced by functional factors in a similar manner to the corresponding English prepositions when the objects are functionally related, although judgments about under and nedanför are not differentially influenced by these factors. Furthermore, the shapes and the parts of both of the related objects influence acceptability judgments about the prepositions in predictable manners. An extension of the theory of apprehension is suggested which can account for the functional influences indicated in the present study.</p>

Prepositions are acquired at earliest during the second year of life. This thesis investigates 16 children acquiring Swedish spatial prepositions, i.e. på ‘on/at’, i ‘in/at’, under ‘under’, bredvid ‘beside/next to’, bakom ‘behind/back’ and framför ‘in front’. This thesis aimed toinvestigate how preposition acquisition relates to language acquisition. The thesis used three different methods: eight sessions of free parent-child interaction, one structured experiment at 2;9 years and parental reports on child passive/active vocabulary from when the children were 0;9 years until they were 3;0 years old. The data gathered was correlated to scores in the parental reports at 4;0 years, which was used as a measure of communicative level, and used as a base when dividing the children into three groups: lower, average and higher score. The results showed that both parental and child preposition production, comprehension at 2;9 years, and comprehension and production predicted communicative level at 4;0 years. The results of the thesis varied depending on the method used. This highlights the importance if using several methods when investigating child language acquisition. / Prepositioner tillägnas som tidigast under barnets andra levnadsår. I denna masteruppsats undersöks utvecklingen av spatiala prepositioner hos 16 barn under deras 4 första levnadsår. På, i, under, bredvid, bakom och framför var prepositionerna som undersöktes. Ett av uppsatsens mål var att undersöka om och/eller hur prepositionsutveckling är kopplat till språkutveckling. För att nå målet användes tre olika metoder: åtta sessioner av förälder-barn interaktion, ett semi-strukturerat test då barnen var 2;9 år gamla och aktivt/passivt ordförråd från när barnen var 0;9 år till att de var 3;0 år gamla. Detta korrelerades sedan till barnens poäng från en föräldraenkät om barnets språkförmåga vid 4;0 års ålder. Poängen vid 4-års ålder låg till grund för uppdelning av barnen i tre grupper: lägre, medel och högre språklig nivå. Resultaten från uppsatsen var bland annat att såväl föräldrars som barns produktion av prepositioner, barnens förståelse av prepositionerna vid 2;9 år, och förståelse såväl som produktion av prepositioner förutsäger barnens kommunikationsnivå vid 4;0-års ålder.  Resultaten skiljer sig beroende på vilken metod som använts, vilket understryker vikten av att använda flera metoder när barns språkutveckling undersöks. / MINT - moduling infant language acquisition from parent-child interaction