From locative to de directional preposition phrases in Romanian

Abstract

The paper discusses the (syntactic and semantic) conditions under which Romanian simple spatial prepositions render locative or directional reading of an event. It will be argued that spatial prepositions are always locative, and that the goal of motion interpretation is only available with some subclasses of motion verbs. A (semi)lexical approach to the category of P is adopted, pointing out relevant data concerning what are commonly viewed as ‘functional’ prepositions. Specifically, it will be shown that DE and PE contribute to the mapping of trajectories of motion events form semantics to syntax.

Keywords

• spatial prepositions
• locative prepositions
• functional prepositions
• Romanian