Inflected preposition

Terminology and analysis

There are many different names for inflected prepositions, including conjugated preposition, pronominal preposition, prepositional pronoun, and suffixed pronoun. (But note that the term prepositional pronoun also has a different sense, for which see Prepositional pronoun.)

Historically, inflected prepositions can develop from the contraction of a preposition with a personal pronoun; however, they are commonly reanalysed as inflected words by native speakers and by traditional grammar.

Language change over time can obscure the similarity between the conjugated preposition and the preposition-pronoun combination. For example, in Scottish Gaelic "with" is le and "him" is e , but "with him" is leis .

Distribution

Insular Celtic

All Insular Celtic languages have inflected prepositions; these languages include Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton.

Scottish Gaelic

The following table shows the inflected forms of the preposition aig . These forms are a combination of preposition and pronoun, and are obligatory; that is, the separate preposition plus pronoun *aig mi is ungrammatical. Also no separate pronoun may also be given after these combined forms. (So *agam mi is ungrammatical.)

:{| class="wikitable" |- ! colspan="2" | ! Singular ! Plural |- ! colspan="2" | 1st Person | agam

Welsh

The following table shows the colloquial inflected forms of the preposition i . The optional pronouns that follow the inflected forms are given in parentheses.

:{| class="wikitable" |- ! colspan="2" | ! Singular ! Plural |- ! colspan="2" | 1st Person | imi, i mi, ifi, i fi

The sentence Mae hi wedi ei roi iddo fo required the inflected form of i, *mae hi wedi ei roi i fo is not grammatically correct.

The following table gives the inflected colloquial forms of the preposition o . The optional pronouns that follow the inflected forms are given in parentheses.

:{| class="wikitable" |- ! colspan="2" | ! Singular ! Plural |- ! colspan="2" | 1st Person | ohonof (i), ohono (i)

Semitic

Inflected prepositions are found in many Semitic languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Amharic.

For example, the Arabic preposition على () inflects as علَيَّ () , علَيْكَ) () , علَيْهِ () , etc.

Iranic languages

Some Iranic languages, including Persian, have developed inflected prepositions. For example, Persian fa becomes fa; fa becomes fa. These forms are non-obligatory and are used especially in the colloquial register, though some of them are also possible in the standard language. As the two examples show, they are not mere contractions but a system of inflectional endings attached to the preposition.

Other languages

Languages that do not have full paradigms of inflected prepositions may nonetheless allow contraction of prepositions and pronouns to a more limited extent.

In formal registers of Polish, a handful of common prepositions allow amalgamated forms with third-person pronouns: na niego → nań. These contracted forms were often recommended to use in formal writing. However, they are rarely heard in daily speech.

In many Iberian Romance languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese, the preposition con or com has special forms incorporating certain pronouns (depending on the language). For example, in Spanish and Asturian conmigo means . Historically, this developed from the Latin use of cum after a pronoun, as in mecum .

Inflected postpositions

As languages can make use of postpositions rather than prepositions, so do some languages have inflected postpositions. Bororo, an indigenous language of Brazil, uses postpositions in all contexts: tori ji . When these modify a pronoun rather than a full noun, the phrase contracts into an inflected postposition (and therefore looks like a pronominal prefix, rather than a suffix as in the examples above: bagai , i-wagai ).

Athabaskan languages such as Dakelh also have inflected postpositions. For example, in the Stuart Lake dialect "for (the benefit of)" is ba, but "for me" is sba, not si ba, "for us" is neba, not wheni ba, "for you (one person)" is mba, not nyun ba, and "for them" is buba, not 'enne ba.

References

References

1. Stalmaszczyk, Piotr. (2007). "Prepositional Possessive Constructions in Celtic Languages and Celtic Englishes".
2. Glinert, Lewis. (1994). "Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar". Routledge UK.
3. Swan, Oscar E.. (2002). "A Grammar of Contemporary Polish". Slavica.
4. Statorius-Stojeński, Piotr. (1568). "Polonicae grammatices institutio. In eorum gratiam, qui eius linguae elegantiam cito & facile addiscere cupiunt". Drukarnia Królewska.
5. Crowell, Thomas Harris. (1979). "A Grammar of Bororo". University Microfilms International.
6. Poser, William. (2017). "The Carrier Language: A Brief Introduction". College of New Caledonia.
7. Poser, William. (2025). "Stuart Lake Carrier Dictionary".