Basic Expressions of Location: Second questionnaire, Short version
by Peter Svenonius, CASTL, University of Tromsø
See the wordy version for instructions.
I. BASIC LOCATIVE RELATIONS.
1. The bicycle is in front of the house.
2. The bicycle is behind the house.
3. The bicycle is beside the house.
Q2.1: Please translate the sentences into your own language, and gloss them. For
comparison, please also give an existential variant, like There is a bicycle in front of
the house.
4. The vase is on the table.
5. The woman’s purse is on top of the car.
6. The monkey is above the house.
7. The dog is under the table.
8. The gum is on the bottom of the table.
9. The water pipes are below the street.
Q2.2. Please translate and gloss (4-9).
10. The front of the house is painted white.
11. The top of the table is sticky.
12. The bicycle is in the front of the house
13. The bicycles are in the fronts of the houses.
14. *The bicycles are in fronts of the houses.
15. The bicycle is in the dark front of the house.
16. *The bicycle is in dark front of the house.
Q2.3: In your translations of (1-9), are there nouns like ‘front,’ ‘top,’ ‘back,’ ‘side,’
and so on? Can you apply tests like the ones in (13-16) to see whether they are being
used as nouns in (1-9)? Please give examples. If they are not nouns, do they have
other uses?
II. PART-WHOLE AND POSSESSOR MARKING
17. The bicycle is at the front of the house.
18. ?The bicycle is at the house’s front.
19. the door of the house
20. the house’s door
21. ?the car of the man
22. the man’s car
Q2.4: In your language, does the relationship of the locative word to the location (e.g.
the relationship of the locative word ‘front’ to the location ‘house’) look like a partwhole relation (the door of the house) or like a possessive relation (the man’s car)?
Please illustrate.
III. FRAME OF REFERENCE
Q2.5: Is your language similar to English, with respect to the ambiguity of
expressions like ‘in front of’? Are sentences like (1-3) ambiguous in a way that (4-9)
are not? Please illustrate.
IV. LEFT-RIGHT, EAST-WEST
23. The bicycle is to the left of the house.
24. The bicycle is to the right of the house.
25. The bicycle is to the east of the house.
26. The bicycle is to the windward side of the house.
27. The bicycle is to the house’s left.
Q2.6: If your translations of (23-24) are ambiguous, is there any way to disambiguate
them, the way (27) is unambiguous? Or, if your translations of (23-24) are
unambiguous, are there ways to express the other sense?
V. BASIC LOCATIVE RELATIONS, GROUND WITHOUT INTRINSIC FRONT AND BACK
28. The bicycle is in front of the tree.
29. The bicycle is behind the tree.
30. The bicycle is beside the tree.
31. The bicycle is (to the) left of the tree.
32. The bicyle is (to the) right of the tree.
33. The bicycle is (to the) {north/south/east/west} of the tree.
Q2.7: Is your language like English in this respect, or different? Please give some
examples.
VI. ADDITIONAL RELATIONS
34. The bicycle is inside the house.
35. The bicycle is outside of the house.
36. The bicycle is between the trees.
37. The bicycle is among the trees.
38. The monkey is near the mango.
39. The monkey is between the mangoes.
40. The monkey is among the mangoes.
41. There is a fence around the house. (meaning, ‘encircling’)
42. There are cows around town. (meaning, ‘here and there’)
43. There is a fence across the meadow. (meaning, ‘dividing’)
44. There is a bridge across the river. (meaning, ‘spanning’)
45. There is a curtain over the opening. (meaning, ‘covering’)
46. There is a path along the river.
47. There is a path past the temple.
Q2.8: Please provide additional examples of spatial relations in your language, for
example by translating (34-47), or by making up your own illustrative examples.