LEXICAL PREPOSITIONAL MEANINGS
Location in space
The most basic prepositional meanings have to do with location in space. When we express spatial relationships we use a mental picture or image schema for each type of relationship, in which a salient Figure, typically a person or thing, is located – or moves – with relation to a reference point or Ground (usually another entity). It is the principle of salience or prominence which enables us to explain why it is more natural to say ‘the book is on the table’ than ‘the table is under the book’. We encountered Figure and Ground, together with Path and Manner, when describing a Motion Event, with the example: The children went down to the beach, in which the Figure is ‘the children’ and the Ground is ‘the beach’.
In 1 (below), the Figure (the boy) is stationary with respect to the Ground (the water), while in 2 the Figure (the boy) is moving with respect to the Ground
1 The boy is in the water. 2 The boy is going into the water.
As we examine the different spatial relationships expressed by prepositions, we see that the nominal group or clause following the preposition represents the Ground, while the Figure is a nearby entity in the clause, like the boy. (Other, more specific terms which have been widely adopted in the analysis of prepositions are ‘Trajector’ and ‘Landmark’ for Figure and Ground, respectively.)
We now turn to the main types of meaning expressed by spatial prepositions in English, in terms of Figure and Ground:
At: point in space: Tim is at home, at the football match, at the
cinema, at the supermarket, at work
On: in contact with a surface: on the floor/wall/ceiling; on the corner of Bond
Street; on a bicycle; on the train/bus/on board
ship; on the map; a wasp on my hand
In: containment: in the universe, in the world, in France, in the
garden; in the corner, in the car, in a boat, the
coin in my hand, in the rain, in my imagination
The preposition at is used when the typical function of the premise is implied (e.g. at the cinema in order to see a film; at church to attend a religious service, at school attending a class), all when the speaker is not at the same location as the Figure. In visualizing Tim’s location at the cinema, the speaker is deliberately vague about exactly where at the cinema Tim is. Tim may in fact be in the queue outside the cinema, or inside, seeing the film. If the speaker were already outside the cinema and asks where Tim is, the answer would be specific: He’s in the cinema, he’s inside.
On typically has the Figure in contact with and supported by a surface (the Ground), whether horizontal (there’s a pen on the floor) or vertical (there’s a fly on the wall). The Ground includes vehicles and animals on which one rides (on a bicycle/motorcycle/ horse), and larger vehicles in transit which have a walkway (on the bus/train, plane, on board a ship), whereas in is used where no such walkway exists (in a boat, in a car, in a helicopter). However, as trains have cafeterias and dining cars, we say in the cafeteria/ the dining-car, in the first-class compartment, which are conceptualized as containers. When the vehicle is not in active use, it is conceived as a container and in may be used (The children were playing in the abandoned bus).
In implies containment: There are strong security forces in the stadium. Containment may be complete (the coins in my purse) or in part (Put the flowers in water, a man in a blue shirt and jeans). The difference between in the corner (of a room) and on the corner (of the street) is one of perspective, whether the right-angle is perceived as containing or projecting.
