The_Prepositions_OF_and_OFF_in_the_English_language.pdf

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Philological Faculty Blaze Koneski

Skopje

The Prepositions OF and OFF in theEnglish language

Contrastive analysis with Macedonian

language equivalents -

Written by: Biljana Petrushevska Mentor: PhD. Professor Zoze Murgoski


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1. Introduction

This paper will deal with the proper analysis and explanation of the English prepositions OF

and OFFand a contrastive comparison with their equivalents in the Macedonian language, in

order to properly understand them, as well as to understand the connection of the two

languages in general and in the context of the generic tree of world languages. The association

of these two languages might seem not likely to produce some quality linguistic data, but one

must not be fooled by the first impressions.

Also another reason for contrasting these two languages is the case of performing an extensive

study of the two, as in this (i.e. my) situation, when it is necessary to stretch beyond the limits

of one single language and to deepen the understanding of the human language, a knowledge

each linguist must strive to.

To make the whole subject more substantial, we will look at it from a more fact-basedperspective. Namely it is widely known that language is a set of structures, symbols, patterns

and rules that differentiate it and make it unique. But also no language can be totally different

from other languages; there is always some connection, some similarity, and some tunnel that

has connected those languages in some time or place, no matter if it was directly or indirectly.

These connections represent links to the past that can also lead to the core of the present

constructions of language and society it self. In order to recognize them we need to first make

an analysis of the language as thorough as we can. Then we need to compare it to another

language and evaluate and place the results in the great puzzle.

This is a quest to great for a single person, not to mention for one single try, and that is why

each linguist must select a certain part of the language, detach it from the other features of thatlanguage (as impossible as that might seem) and after having acquired all the necessary

information, to try to compare it in an objective manner, with the adequate scientific methods.

One of these methods is contrastive analysis which is a branch of contrastive grammar

concerned with systematic description and comparison of two or more languages, with a

special attention to the similarities and differences holding between them. It is an inductive

investigative approach based on the distinctive elements in a language and it has historically it

has been used to establishlanguage genealogies.All in all it is the skeleton key to all the

unlocked doors to the world of language and that is why it is the ideal tool to gradually answer

all the uncertainties concerning our basic question in this paper.

Therefore in the following paragraphs, we will use all the methods contrastive analysis (further

referred to as CA) offers in order to work out the knots and bolts of this particular fragment of

the English language. The CA we will be administering will first be intralingual, and will deal

with the prepositions inside the English language, their varieties and old forms. Then we will

deal with interlingual CA, thus comparing the differences and similarities of the above

mentioned prepositions with their language equivalents in the Macedonian language.

The language model being used will be the normative (or so called traditional) language model

which views some language items in isolation, and it will mostly be focused on the English

version and the Macedonian equivalents will be used to explain it and bring it closer to the

non-native speaker.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_familyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_family


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2. English vs. Macedonian language- Prepositions in both languages -

All of the languages in the world belong to one giant family tree that shows the way they have

developed, which language they have originated from and which languages are the closest to

them in structure, grammar and symbols. Because of these existing similarities and differences

we are able to classify them by using several forms of categorization.

English and Macedonian, as categorized by the genetic classification, belong to the same group

of Proto-Indo-European Languages, but the English language belongs to the Germanic /West

Germanic subgroup and the Macedonian language belongs to the Balto-Slavic/Slavic/SouthSlavic group of languages. Also they belong to the class of flexible languages which means

that in both languages there is a majority of flexible words, which can change their basic part

the root of the word, and the suffixes and prefixes have various different grammatical

meanings. Also in their case there is a fine line between the root and the suffix/prefix. So we

can already see some connection between these two languages, no matter how distant it may

seem .The important aspect of this connection, is the fact that the existence of similarities is a

fact and it will enable us to dig deeper into the structure we need to uncover.

But in order not to distance our selves too much from the subject we will tighten the circle of

our interest to the subject of prepositions and their basic forms and uses in these two languages.

In this section of the paper we will explain those exact properties and how they further the

connection which gives us the right to make a comparison between the prepositions OF and

OFF, which are the specific subject of this work.

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In the English language:

In the most general terms, a preposition expressed a relation between two entities (relationships

between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence), one being that represented by the

prepositional complement, the other by another part of the sentence. In doing so, a preposition

indicates the relationship of the idea expressed in the prepositional phrase to the ideasexpressed in the rest of the sentence.

The prepositional complement is characteristically a noun phrase, a nominal wh-clause, or a

nominal ing clause. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the

word they are referring to. The words of, and offare examples of prepositions. A word such as

a noun, pronoun or gerund following a preposition is said to be the objectof the preposition.

They are combined into two groups, simple and complex. Because their number is very large,

they cant all be presented in this paper but here is a short list of some of the more common

one-word prepositions. Many of these prepositions have more than one meaning.

aboard about

above

around

as

at

before

behind

between

beyond

but

by

concerning considering

despite down

during

except

excluding

following

for

from

in

inside

into

like

minus near

of off

on

onto

outside

over

past

per

plus

regarding

round

save

since than

through to

toward

towards

under

unlike

until

up

versus

via

with

within

without

As pointed out previously, a personal pronoun following a preposition must be in the objective

case. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called

prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but

they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two,

followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase, in

turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time

and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something

happened. The prepositional phrases in the following examples are underlined.

e.g. He owns the house on the corner.We are waiting for her.She has read many books about flying.

Prepositions are separated into several groups: prepositions of time, of place, of location, of

movement, of time. They are also sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have

practically become one word. This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

There are hardly any rules as to when to use which preposition. The only way to learn

prepositions is looking them up in a dictionary, reading a lot in English (literature) and learning

useful phrases off by heart (study tips).

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Although there are fewer than one hundred English prepositions, although prepositions do not

take endings, and although the structure of most prepositional phrases is simple, the use of

English prepositions is very complex. The reasons for this are that most prepositions have more

than one meaning, many prepositions can also be used as adverbs, prepositions are used in

hundreds of idioms, many adjectives, nouns, and verbs must usually be followed by certain

prepositions, and there are hundreds of phrasal verbs formed from combinations of verbs with

adverbs and prepositions.It should also be noted that the use of prepositions varies somewhatamong the different dialects of English. For instance, as illustrated in the following example,

there are some differences between British and North American English in the use of

prepositions.

Example: (British Usage) There is a fence about the garden.(American Usage: There is a fence around the garden.

In the Macedonian language:

The prepositions in Macedonian (called ) are official words whichlike in English

never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc., which express different relationsbetween words in a sentence. Combined with other words that have their own, full meaning

which is not necessary to be connected to other words, they gain a large number or varieties of

their meaning, or are reduced to being grammatical means to express the meaning of full-

fledged words. In languages without case, such as the Macedonian language, they are very

important means to present the functions of words. They are of a great importance and enable

the expressing of a set of syntax functions when used together with the noun word or noun

phrase.

The primary meaning of the largest number of prepositions is connected to spatial relations,

from which the other, more or less direct, meanings develop. In this way the prepositions

(depending on the nouns they are structured with) can participate in the creation of adverbs and

adverbial phrases.The prepositions in the Macedonian language are, similar to English, split

into two groups, though they are not as numerous.

Simple: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,, , , , , , ..

Complex:, , , , , , , ,, , , , , , , , , , ,, , ,

Examples:

- .(She is living inthe new house on the hill)- . (My mother said she would paymy dancing classes no English equivalent of the structure with the preposition)- . (This was supposed to be a gift forhim)- ? (Where did you come from?)

Prepositions have no accent of their own, but form an accentual unit with the substantive or

pronoun which they govern. There are two types: those which may take the stress when used

with a personal pronoun, and those which do not. In the former group there are some whichsometimes may take the stress when used with an indefinite noun.

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3. Intralingual CA and Iterlingual CA (Macedonian Equivalents)

OF -

Todays English language structure and is mainly built of two other languages: Germanic

(Anglo-Saxon) and Lain (mostly French) words, structures and rules have conjoined in a newlanguage with its own slightly altered system of signs. Since our main subject of discussion is

the preposition of we will discuss its origin. It is derived from Old English< Germanic roots,from the preposition f; Proto-Germanic af-, whence also Old High German ab, Old Norse af.

Its pronunciation is \v, andbefore consonants also v, v.

The word OFin the English language has mostly the function of a preposition. Its main

purpose is to introduce nouns or noun phrases and provide more information about a preceding

word or phrase, usually (but not always), also a noun. In fact, the prepositions of is among the

ten most frequent words in English.

It belongs to the group of simple/ monosyllabic prepositions (because of the different stress

patterns of simple prepositions, they are divided into monosyllabic and polysyllabic) which

means it is usually unstressed, but it can be when used for coordination: The government ofthe people, and also when it is used as the tail of the tone unit: What ofit?.It can also be a part of the complex prepositions: ahead of, back of, exclusive of, insteadof, outside of, because of, devoid of, in aid of, in behalf of, in case of, by means of, onaccount of, and etc.

Its many uses are disambiguated here:

- It is frequently used to connect particular adjectives with nouns:

I have always been very fond of swimming, even since my childhood days

- When comparing related things:

Best of all I liked the green one.

- It is used for expressing something done tosomeone or something:

What this raging lunatics actions resulted in was the massacre of hundreds ofinnocent people.

- When describing something that is felt or experiencedby someone:

The suffering of millions throughout the world made me realise how fortunate I was..

- When presenting the cause of something, through:

He died of cancer.

- It is used after words or phrases expressing amount, numberor particular unit:

Please hand me a kilo of apples.

- When we describe something, what it is made of, and what it consists of, or when we talk of

having something:

She lived in a land of ice and snow and was perfectly happy.

- We use of also when we want to show a certain distance from something in place or time:We live within a mile of the city centre.

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- In expressions showing lossof something:

They were robbed of all their savings.

- It can be used with the meaning of THAT IS or ARE:

The main concern of our city council is the problem of homelessness.

- Used in expressions showing position:He placed the hat on the top of his head

- It can also be used when it we are describing a typical characteristic of a person, using

something or someone else as a comparison:

She has the face of an angel.

- Used to refer to a particular date in a month.

She celebrates her birthday on the eleventh of March.

- Used in saying what the time is (mostly in the US):

Its ten (minutes) of five (= ten minutes before five o'clock).

- It can also be used after an adjective when judging someone's behaviour:

It was a bit unkind of you to mention her weight.

- When we are talking about, relating to something:

Speaking of Elizabeth, here she is.

- expressing the countenanceor containing of something inside something else:

With him he brought a bag of sweets for the children and a bottle of beer for him self.

- It is used to show possession, belonging ororigin:

He is a friend of mine* (he is my friend).Biting my nails is a habit of mine*.

*This is a so-called double genitive construction, which has been used in English since the

14th century and serves a useful purpose. It can help sort out ambiguous phrases like Tom'sphotograph,which could refer either to a photograph of Bob (that is, revealing Bob's image)or to one in Tom's possession.A photograph of Tomscan only be a photo that Tom has inhis possession, which may or may not show Tom's image. Moreover, in some sentences the

double genitive offers the only way to express what is meant. There is no substitute for it in a

sentence such as That's the only friend of yours that I've ever met,since sentences such asThat's your only friend that I've ever metand That's your only friend, whom I've evermetare awkward or inaccurate.

- It has some old-fashioned use also, replacing the meaning of during:

I like to relax with a pipe of an evening.

- Some speakers of vernacular English varieties, particularly in isolated or mountainous regions

of the southern United States, use phrases such as of a nightor of an eveningin place ofStandard English at nightor in the evening,as in We'd go hunting of an evening.This ofconstruction is used only when referring to a repeated actionwhere Standard English uses

nights, evenings,and the like, as in Wed go hunting nights.It is not used for single actions,as in She returned at night.Interestingly, these ofand -sconstructions are related. This -s

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construction, which dates back to the Old English period (c. 449-1100), does not signify a

plurality but is similar to the so-called genitive suffix -s,which often indicates possession, as in

the king's throne.Just as this example can also be phrased as the throne of the king, nightscan be reformulated as of a night.This reformulation has been possible since the MiddleEnglish period (c. 1100-1500). Sometimes the original -sending remains in the ofconstruction,

as in We'd walk to the store of evenings,but usually it is omitted.

In the Macedonian language it is mostly translated by the equivalents and , and also byjuxtaposi tion.

The preposition has extremely varied meanings.(We are mostly interested in its connection with the preposition of, so here we will list only theuses which are translated with that word i.e. the equivalence that exists between these two

words.)

- It can express possession or the relationship of indirect object.

- The scream ofa woman is unbearable.

- It is also used to introduce the person who performs an action in the sentence.

o.. The storytelling ofthe grandfather .

- It can connect a noun (or a group of nouns) with another noun (or a group).

The handsome mane of the black horse.

The preposition is connected with OF when:- it expresses origin

. She is Donka ofthe Manevi family.

- it expresses direction . I have never been north ofMacedonia

- it forms connection between nouns or group of nouns

What is causing theproblems is the hole ofthe chimney.

- it is after an adjective when judging someone's behaviour

, It was very nice ofyou tovisit me in the hospital.

- it shows the cause of an event

It happened out ofnegligence.

-when showing some quantity , . She got nine out often right.

JuxtapositionThe partitive meaning usually expressed by the genitive case in other Slavic languages and by

the preposition of in English, is usually expressed in Macedonian simply by juxtapositionof

the substantives: a glass of water, a bottle of brandy,

collection of junk, plowing of a field, on the occasion of her birthday.

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OFF

This English word originates from the 12thcentury. It has meaning as an adverb, a preposition,

an adjective, a verb or an abbreviation. Its more common use is as an adverb but it is its use as

a preposition that is looked at more closely in this paper here. Offfunctions as a preposition of

position or movement and is the converse of on.

The compound preposition off ofis used interchangeably with the preposition offin a context

such as she picked it up off of the floor (compared with she picked it up off the floor). The use

of off ofis recorded from the 16th century (and was used commonly by Shakespeare, for

example) and is logically parallel to the standard out of, but is not accepted in standard modern

English. Today off ofis restricted to dialect and informal contexts, particularly in the US.

Here are some examples of other common usages of offas a preposition:

- When someone doesnt like or doesnt like takingsomething or someoneHe's been off his food ever since he had the stomach upset.I used to love wine but I've gone off it recently. (= stopped liking it)

- Meaning nearto some place

He lives just off the main road.

- Meaning no longer to be supported by, attached to, on, resting on, or unified with:Take your feet off the table!

- Meaning deviating from:The chi in his body is totally off balance;

- Meaning away, disengaged, or resting from:

To be off duty on Tuesdays

- (Informal) Refraining or abstaining from; denying oneself the pleasure, company, practice,

etc., of:

He's off gambling.

- Away from; apart or distant from:

A village off the main road

- leading into or away from:

It is found in an alley off 12th Street.

- Not fixed on or directed toward, as the gaze, eyes, etc.:

Their eyes weren't off the king for a moment.

- With the meaning of from:

(Informal)I bought it off a street vendor. - A specified sourceTo lunch off cheese and fruit. - Indicating material or component parts

Living off an inheritance; living off his parents - From or by such means or use of

- Nautical. at some distance to seaward of:

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Our course is off Cape Hatteras.

- Taken or stolen from the possession or charge of

He had his wallet stolen of fhim

- used as a function word to indicate the object of an action

I borrowed a dollar of f

him

- To show the ending of some activityby someone.

He turned of fthe light.She switched of fthe computer

Expressions with off

We also speak about people being off-balance, off-colour, off-duty, doing things on the off-

chanceand havingoff days:

I caught him completely off-balanceand he didn't know what to say. She'd been off-colourfor days, but there was no sign of any real illness

developing. Could you just do this for me? ~ Sorry, love, I'm off dutyat the moment. ~

When are you on again?

In the Macedonian language:

It is mostly translated using the preposition , when referring to the following structures:

- When it has the meaning of down from, or rather some form of departure or detachment

from a surface or a line

He got off the horse. He took his hat of fof his head.

- When it means an exit from an enclosed space

, When she got of fthe train, the firstthing she saw was him.

In other cases it is usually not translated by a specific word or preposition, but its meaning is

explained and replaced by the use of prefixes. For example, the most common usage of OFF in

the English language, which is switch off/turn off is translated as in the Macedonianlanguage. That is why many Macedonian equivalents dont exist.

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Conclusion

Linguists, psychologists and philosophers have long observed the importance of space and

spatial experience for both language and thought. They have often assumed that words

constitute lexical forms that are conventionally paired with meanings, and that these form-

meaning pairings are stored in a mental dictionary or lexicon. These meanings or ideas, of

some shapes or objects or abstract things are related to different words in different languages.

It is important to know that each language has its specific grammar patterns, structures and

rules that make it instantly recognizable and differentiated from other languages. Its primary

function is that of enabling communication between people and forming the understanding and

meaning of that communication. It also develops it self through it and it functions as a self-

upgrading mechanism. That means that it has the ability to improve it self, to change, to

fluctuate, to widen and to constrict it self. It has been created by humans but it has become a

phenomenon greater than the control we can provide it and it has probably had the

predisposition to be created all along, an unavoidable occurrence, an enciphered code in our

genes, waiting for its time to come and to develop, unleashing the power for other, maybe even

more important and unimaginable human properties and creations.

Here lies the other function of language. It is a powerful means to uncover information that has

been stored through time and space, which has been the building material for it. All the

happenings, all the conditions, whether natural or artificial, have left their impression on it, i.e.

have made perhaps a slight bend in it, that has caused an entire shift it some of its symbols or

structures. By looking into this changes or variations, we will have access to a higher

knowledge that could raise our conscience and insight into the world.

This all sounds very impervious and philosophical, but it has a very obtainable scientific side.

Although it has not yet reached the boundary we need to break in order to get to that fruit of

paradise, it is on a very good way to dig up the upper layers of the hidden treasure and travelthrough its interconnecting tunnels which can not be seen from the surface.

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