Are English Prepositions Simply Degenerate Verbs?
Robert C. Meurant · 2007 International Conference on Convergence Information Technology (ICCIT 2007) · 2007
Prepositions share properties with verbs. They act as operators that often relate subject and object noun phrases, and they assign theta roles and case to their nominal objects. I explore syntactic parallels in the English language between verbs and prepositions, while noting significant areas where they differ. Mathematical degeneracy denotes a limiting case in which a class of objects changes its nature to become simpler. Degenerate structure is discussed, using two- dimensional geometrical examples, and ways are identified in which degeneracy gradience might apply to lexical categorization. The syntactic role of prepositions is examined. Prepositions and verbs are compared, to identify significant similarities and critical differences. The treatments of prepositions in Chomsky's and Jackendoff s competing theories of syntactic feature sets are reviewed. The available syntactic evidence indicates English prepositions could well be subsumed as a degenerate form of verbs. This potential simplification may have implications for computational linguistics and artificial intelligence.