Re: Adpositions gaining new uses

On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 21:45, Ina van der Vegt <gijsstrider@...> wrote:
> Something I've been noticing about my L1 (Dutch) is that in some
> situations, the adposition 'op' (Roughly the same as the English
> adposition 'on') has gained a new use.
>
> As I am no good at explaining, I'll give some examples, and try some
> of my theories afterward.
>
> Hij / moet / op / de / computer.
> He / should / on / the / computer.
> He should use the computer.
>
> Ik / wil / op / de / playstation.
> I / want / on / the / playstation.
> I want to use the playstation.
>
> Ik / zit / op / gitaarles.
> I / sit / on / guitar lesson.
> I am taking guitar lessons.
>
> Now, I think this use originally came from the last use, as 'op'
> defaults to 'zitten' (To sit), and 'zitten' is only removed when there
> is another verb. What I think is that 'opzitten' (Literally: To sit
> on) has gained the new meaning of 'to make use of' or 'to use', and
> that the 'zitten' part is left out when another verb is present. The
> reason that 'zitten' is still present in situations where there is no
> other verb is because there must be a verb.
>
> Does this sound plausible, and are there any situations similar to
> this in other languages?
German can omit the verb for verbs of motion (typically "go") in some
situations: "Ich will auf deine Schultern" (I want on your shoulders
-- which is something that my daughter actually says in English,
though it's obviously a loan construction from German), "Ich muss auf
Klo" (I must onto toilet), "Ich will nach draußen" (I want to outside
= I want to go outside).

I'd interpret "Er muss an den Computer" (He has-to to-at the computer)
and "Ich möchte an die Playstation" (I want to-at the Playstation)
similarly, with an understood "go" or similar motion verb.

In other words, they sound like German, except that Germans sit "at" a
computer rather than "on" it, so they move "to-at" it.

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

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