Category Archive: Semantics

Greek prepositions as conventional patterns

When we talk about the semantics of prepositional phrases, we are talking about a specific kind of conventionalized pattern. Conventional patterns are arbitrary in the sense that they are not predictable from one language to another. But in another way, they are nevertheless motivated (Sweetser 1990). There is a reason they occur as they do. Basic cognitive processes influence how different prepositions extend from spatial meanings to more abstract ones.

The preposition περί and cultural category structures

There are plenty of abstract uses of the preposition περί—the most comment is TOPIC with verbs of thought and communication. But with many other non-communication situations, the preposition περί often functions to express category structures. It’s spatial sense “Location Around” still provides the motivating image schema (CENTER-PERIPHERY), but reconstrued metaphorically as a point in conceptual space that affects actions or circumstances in its proximity around it.

Spatial Prepositions and Pedagogy II, Feet

What if instructors were able to build lessons for Greek prepositions around physical actions that students could perform themselves both in class and at home? Methods such as this help connect the meaning of the prepositions not to rote memorization, but to physical behavior and actions. Below are some of the more salient uses of ποῦς, ‘foot’ with various prepositions that lend themselves to this type of experiential learning.