Abstract
The discussion on complex prepositions has been centered on the string whose structure is preposition plus nominal plus preposition (PNP). However, there are other strings whose internal structures are quite distinct from the above and which are undergoing the process of grammaticalization and should be treated as single grammatical components, i.e. complex prepositions, in given circumstances where they appear. Three of those are up and above, down and below, and from top to bottom and across. They all share one characteristic that they have and in the second final position before the string final prepositions. They all appear in almost every circumstance where a single word preposition may appear. In addition, they all can be used as prepositional adverb which is a prominent major derivational use of single word prepositions.
Highlights
1.1 Complex Preposition as a Part of GrammaticalizationGrammaticalization is a process by which content words become grammatical items(Hopper & Traugott, 1993, 2003) In English there are a number of complex prepositions where prepositions and adverbs combine together and form single word prepositions, i.e. into, onto, upon, within, without, the status of items which are considered as adverbs in these instances may be a little bit controversial
There are other strings whose internal structures are quite distinct from the above and which are undergoing the process of grammaticalization and should be treated as single grammatical components, i.e. complex prepositions, in given circumstances where they appear
All three strings occur in major functions where single word prepositions are used
Summary
Grammaticalization is a process by which content words become grammatical items(Hopper & Traugott, 1993, 2003) In English there are a number of complex prepositions where prepositions and adverbs combine together and form single word prepositions, i.e. into, onto, upon, within, without, the status of items which are considered as adverbs in these instances may be a little bit controversial. The fact is, they have already completed grammaticalization process and become single lexical items. Since strings of three items are claimed to form grammatical units on their own, their level of grammaticalization posed delicate questions whether they really are functioning as real grammatical entities
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