A Brief Account of the Polysemy of Spatial Prepositions

Abstract: Spatial prepositions will often hinder the fluency of our daily communication. Such barrier is mainly caused by the fact that they are frequently used in their non-spatial-related senses. And in this essay， I’d like to combine the precedent researches in this field to offer a new look on the understanding of spatial prepositions by first applying the physical worldview to the temporal reference of spatial prepositions， and then turning to the prototypical meaning of spatial prepositions to explain the metaphorical use of spatial prepositions.

Key words: spatial prepositions; temporal prepositions; metaphorical use; prototypical meaning

摘要：空間介詞往往會給我們的日常交流造成障礙，這主要是由于我們使用空間介詞時，通常會用到它的非空間性指代。在這篇小論文中，我想通過綜合前人在這方面的研究，首先運用物理世界的角度來解答空間介詞的時間指代性，然后，運用原型意思來解釋空間介詞的暗喻用法。

關鍵詞：空間介詞；時間介詞；暗喻用法；原型意思

Though there are only a handful of prepositions in the big family of English lexicons， they are frequently used in their collocation with other words to facilitate our daily communication. “Among the ten most often used English words， three are prepositions.”

We use prepositions either semantically or metaphorically. For example， the spatial preposition on in the sentence the book is on the table is used semantically to clarify the position of the book， while in the sentence I am on it， the metaphorical use of on indicates that somebody is in the process of doing something. It is such flexibility of meaning that extends the scope of the applicability of prepositions to situations in which they are not semantically used. Many endeavors have been put in to explain the polysemy of prepositions， spatial prepositions in particular. And in this essay I would like to combine some of the findings of spatial prepositions in an effort to better our understanding of the polysemous property of such words.

一、Temporal reference of spatial prepositions

Some spatial prepositions such as in， on and at can also be applied to referring to the time. A rough distinction between the three words in their temporal function is that on is used to show a day or date， at a specific point of time and in， a period of time. According to Bennett， we can use the spatial reference of the prepositions to explain their temporal reference.

“In English-speaking countries， time is a continuum of points and segments … and thus prepositions referring to space can be used to refer to time.”A three dimensional world can be regarded as being composed of points， lines and surfaces. When we use at to refer to a specific place， this place can be compared to a point in a two dimensional world composed of points and lines， and thus when referring to time， at is used before a specific point of time.

Similarly， in the physical world， in precedes an area of space. When transferred to time， which can be regarded as a two dimensional world as is expounded by Bennett， an area of space is like a segment of the timeline， and thereby in can be used to refer to a period of time.

However， confusion may arise when it comes to the preposition of on. The spatial preposition on usually refers to relationship between an object and a surface. So how do we apply the above space-time theory to expound the temporal reference of on. Yang Lili helps us to solve this problem by tracing back to the original use of on. “In fact， in old English， some prepositions such as in， on and at were interchangeable. Later on， they were endowed with specific referent meanings， and on was used to refer to a specific day or date”.

二、 The metaphorical use of spatial prepositions

Many spatial prepositions are used metaphorically in our daily communication to make our English sound idiomatic. For example， to say I am on your side is more colloquial than I support you. Nevertheless， new metaphorical meanings of spatial prepositions will come into use with the passing of time， which makes it harder for us to keep up with. A little exploration of the formation of such metaphorical use of preposition will be a boon in its own right.

In Seth Linstromberg’s essay Prepositions: 《Meaning and Method》， he suggests a new theory in explaining the metaphorical meaning of prepositions—prototype. The metaphorical meaning of the spatial preposition， in most cases， extends from its prototypical meanings. For example， the spatial prepositions on has its prototypical meaning: contact of an object with a line or surface， which implies the fact that when an object is on the surface of something else， it applies a pressure to the thing that supports this object. And this pressure， used metaphorically， can mean the influence something has on something else as in the metaphorical use of on in have influence on.

We can use this theory to explain the metaphorical use of the spatial preposition behind.

The prototypical meaning of behind: an entity hidden by an object.

Example: The tree is behind the house.

Metaphorical meaning 1: be responsible for， be the mastermind of sth.

Explanation: Seeing is believing， not seeing not believing

Example: Who is behind this car bomb suicide attack?

Metaphorical meaning 2: to support someone

Explanation: If we replace the object with a person， then the spatial sense of behind can be metaphorically explained as support.

Example: I will be always behind you in your election for President.

Metaphorical meaning 3: to make less progress than sb/sth

Explanation: When a person is behind someone， he can either support that person or just follow that person in a spatial sense. By extension， we can apply it to the abstract sense of follow， lagging behind， not making progress.

Example: Jim is always behind the whole class in mathematics.

Metaphorical meaning 4: Something is somebody’s past

Explanation: As we have already discussed in the temporal reference of spatial prepositions， time is always viewed as a line in English speaking countries. There is a time can be an equivalent of space in a two dimensional world. And thus seen from the temporal aspect， a segment of time can be behind a certain point of time.

Example: It is better for us to leave behind our past.

The fact that words can have more than one meaning， the conventional and the metaphorical， adds difficulty to our ESL learning. The fact that spatial prepositions are often used in their non-spatial-related senses makes the study of prepositions more time-consuming. Though the two above-mentioned theories can’t account for all the non-spatial uses of spatial prepositions we encounter in our daily communication， it will certainly shed some light on and offers us a new and refreshing look on the polysemy of spatial prepositions.

Bibliography：

1.Boers、 Frank. and Murielle Demecheleer，《A Cognitive Semantic Approach to Teaching Prepositions》[J]. ELT 52 (6， 1998): 197-204

2.Frisson、 Steven. and D. S. and F. B. and G. R. and H. C.，《Flexible Semantic Processing of Spatial Prepositions》[J]， J Semantics 15， 1998|

3.Linstromberg、 Seth. Prepositions，《Meaning and Method》[J]， ELT 50 ，1996

4.任紹曾，《英語語法系列(1)介詞》[英]，湯普森編，王之光譯， 北京：外文出版社，2000

5.鄢春艷，《介詞的認知語義結構——On的個案分析 》[J]，北京第二外國語學報（外語版），2006(6)

6.楊莉藜，《英語介詞語義源流》 [J]，外語研究，1997(1)

【責編 馮立偉】