Monthly Archives: August 2020

A two-sided analysis of postpositions

#preposition #postposition Consider the following adverbs: après (after, dopu) (he would eat after), avant (before, nanzi) (they had seen them before). They can also be considered as prepositions:

  • après la fête: after the feast, dopu à a festa
  • avant le mois de juin: before the month of June, nanzi u mesi di ghjunghju
    Likewise, during is also a preposition: durant la procession, during the procession, mentri a prucissioni
    But après, avant, durant can also be used differently:
  • deux jours après: two days after, dui ghjorni dopu
  • une semaine avant: one week before, una sittimana innanzi
  • deux mois durant: for two months, mentri dui mesi
    From our point of view, these are postpositions, because they are then followed by punctuation (in general), and preceded by a common name.
    If we now extend this analysis to locutions, the following locutions are also postpositions:
  • plus tard: later, dopu; deux jours plus tard: two days later, dui ghjorni dopu
  • plus loin: further, più luntanu; trois mètres plus loin: three meters further
  • plus près: closer, più vicinu; dix centimètres plus près: ten centimeters closer

More on two-sided grammar


Let’s focus on analyzing the following phrases:

  • à force de courage (bravely)
  • à force de courage et de persévérance (by dint of courage and perseverance)
  • avec beaucoup d’abnégation (selflessly)
  • d’une manière ou d’une autre (in any way)
  • d’une façon vraiment admirable (in a very admirable way)
  • au moment le plus opportun (when most appropriate)

What is their grammatical nature? From the point of view of two-sided grammar, what are they?

From a synthetic standpoint, first of all, they are adverbs. Let us turn now to their nature from an analytical point of view.

  • à force de courage (bravely): analytically, it is a preposition, followed by a common noun, then another preposition, then another common noun: PS-NC-PS-NC.
  • à force de courage et de persévérance (by dint of courage and perseverance): analytically, it is a preposition, followed by a common noun, then another preposition, then another common noun, then a conjunction, then another preposition and then another common noun: PS-NC-PS-NC-CONJ-PS-NC.
  • and so on