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There is a closed set of grammatical words - prepositions - which are placed immediately before a NP, and express a syntactic relationship between the NP and a predicate, or another NP. Relative location nouns which are described in a previous section (3.1.4.2.1) are excluded from this group, although they can also be preposed to another NP, to mark oblique cases just like prepositions, as illustrated in the following example:

(123) dro - tave surface - bed "on the bed"

Tinrin is very rich in prepositions. They express various types of relationships which often overlap in meanings or syntactic properties, as illustrated in Table 3.9 at the end of this section. Some prepositions have a variety of meanings which are difficult to describe systematically in terms of labels such as instrument or cause. Their uses may be best elucidated in a clause context.

All Tinrin prepositions relate a NP to the preceding VP, except possessive markers

nrä, rre/rre and d, which only link two NPs. In the following, I will describe grammatical and semantic features of each preposition,

a) nrä subject/possessive marker, "of"

nrä, when it occurs before a NP, functions as either a subject marker or possessive marker.

1) subject marker

nrä marks the nominal subject of an action or state, with either a transitive or intransitive verb (8.1.1.1). The origin of this nrä is unclear, as the form and use of a subject marker differs widely from one language to another among New Caledonian languages (cf. Ozanne-Rivierre & Moyse-Faurie 1983). In Tinrin, when the subject is topicalized and preposed to the beginning of a sentence, nrä is not used.

2) possessive marker, " o f

The majority of free nouns (alienable) can occur in possessive constructions with

nra^2. nrä links the possessor to the preceding NP head, normally suggesting a

temporary possession, nrä is further discussed in 6.1.6.1.1 along with other possessive markers rre/rre and d.

b) rre/ rre possessive marker, "o f

rre and rre, which are the variants of the same morpheme, express personal possession (see 6.1.6.1.1).

c) 6 possessive marker, " o f

The possessed NP is restricted to nre "fire, firewood" and compounds with nre (see 6.1.6.1.1).

d) ei "to, for"

ei marks dative: it is used to express the animate recipient in an action that involves the transfer of something as in (124), or the addressee of a predicate of locution. It can also be used to express the experiencer of a perception or emotion, as in (125), or a directional goal as in (126).

(124) u hwari nri

lsg sell 3sg "I sold it to them."

ei rri DAT 3pl

(125) nrä harm ei treanrii nri rri arrimerre 3sg good DAT people if 3pl

"It is good for people, if they are used to it."

used to (126) rri truu hubo

3pl stay near "They live near you."

ei nrii to 2sg

e) gi "to, for, at, about, with"

gi marks dative, locative or referential. It can link two NPs, as well as relating a NP to a VP.

1) dative

ei and gi are generally interchangeable in this sense, expressing the animate recipient, addressee, or the experiencer of a perception:

(127) nrä truu gi nrii 3sg stay DAT 2sg

"It stays to you (as you like, it’s up to you)." (128) toni nrä haunee gi nrii

Tony 3sg talk dirty DAT 2sg "Tony uses indecent words to you."

22 Lynch (1973: 74-75) notes that in Axoma a subject marker occurs between possessor and possessed in a type o f possessive construction, probably to indicate a more distant relationship than in those

2) locative

In this usage, gi expresses the point of location (an object is envisaged as a

dimensionless location23 at which an event takes place). It normally occurs with other prepositions denoting locations, which are: pwere ‘allative’, ghe ‘elative’ and ru

‘locative’, gi always follows pwere as in (129) and ghe, but it can either precede or follow ru as in example (130). I discuss rugi and ghegi as separate prepositions later in this section, as they form phonological units and exhibit various meanings of their own. (129) simo nrä fi pwere gi sinema

Simon 3sg go to at cinema "Simon goes to the cinema."

(130) komu treu wake mwagi gi ru rrafoa ldlexc again work again at in Lafoa "We two work again at Lafoa."

3) referential

This expresses reference to an entity with regard to which an event takes place. It is often used with the verbs of locution, as in (131) and (132), expressing subject matter. (131) herre hidro gi wa fo treanrii mwä

IMPN say about DET kind people M.DIST treanrii a taa

people AT bad

"People say about this kind of people, bad people." (132) nrä hawi vetaa gi komu

3sg talk badly about ldlexc "He speaks ill of us two."

(133) ke godhai gi saa drae 2sg do mistake on one thing "You made a mistake in something."

(134) nrä kobti gi aune-nri

3sg be angry about mother-3sg "He is angry with his mother."

f) drti "because of, for"

drü indicates the cause of an event taking place. (135) rru förro rru drti mone

3dl shout 3dl CAUS money

"They (two) shouted at each other because of money."

(136) ke drarri drti gee nrä vajti wai

2sg cry CAUS grandmother 3sg dead already "You cried because of grandmother who died."