Datapoint Sranan/Order of adposition and noun phrase

As Nickel & Wilner (1984: 40) note, location phrases are formed with the locational preposition na, which may then be followed by another locational marker such as ondro ‘under’, ini ‘in’, tapu ‘top’, etc. (cf. examples 12 and 15). The latter items can also be used independently of na. Na used by itself simply marks location or a goal, as in:

Mi de na mi mama oso.
[1SG be.at LOC 1SG mother house]
‘I’m at my mother’s house.'

Mi e go na mi mama oso.
[1SG IPFV go LOC 1SG mother house]
‘I’m going to my mother’s house.’ (Wilner 1992: 47)

Locational markers such as ini and ondro may either precede the noun, in which case they seem to function like prepositions, or follow the noun, in which case they are like nominalizations.

A bedi de na ini a kamra.
[DET bed be-at LOC in DET room]
‘The bed is in the room.’ (Wilner 1992: 33)

A bedi de na a karma ini.
[DET bed be-at LOC DET room inside]
‘The bed is in the room’ (constructed by Don Winford)

The latter type of construction has parallels in Gbe languages. See Bryun, Adrienne. 1995. Grammaticalization in Creoles: The development of determiners and relative clauses in Sranan. Dortrecht: ICG printing, 241-253 for further discussion of this.

Values

Prepositions

Example 2-10:
nanga wantu mati fu mi
nanga
with
wantu
some
mati
friends
fu
of
mi
mine
with some friends of mine

Source: Nickel and Wilner 1984: 39

Example 2-11:
ini a yari fu 1492
ini
in
a
det
yari
year
fu
of
1492
1492
in the year 1492

Source: Nickel and Wilner 1984: 39

Example 2-12:
na ini Sranan
na
loc
ini
in
Sranan
Sranan
in Sranan

Source: Nickel and Wilner 1984: 40

Example 2-13:
Mi de na mi mama oso.
Mi
1sg
de
be.at
na
loc
mi
1sg
mama
mother
oso.
house
I’m at my mother’s house.

Source: Wilner 1992: 47

Example 2-14:
Mi e go na mi mama oso.
Mi
1sg
e
ipfv
go
go
na
loc
mi
1sg
mama
mother
oso.
house
I’m going to my mother’s house.

Source: Wilner 1992: 47

Example 2-15:
A bedi de na ini a kamra.
A
det
bedi
bed
de
be.at
na
loc
ini
in
a
det
kamra.
room
The bed is in the room.

Source: Wilner 1992: 33

Confidence:
Very certain