Preposition

Definition

Verbal adjuncts have functions like those of English prepositions and as a result may also be called “prepositional verbs”. These secondary verbs specify location, direction of motion, and a few notions of other sorts expressed by English prepositions. Most, if not all, can appear as predicate heads. (Suttles, 2003, p. 70)

Examples

Locative Verbs	Directional Verbs (& their Derivatives)	Resultative Forms	Complex Forms	Other Simple Verbs
ʔí ‘be here’	ʔəm̓í ‘come’	stətés ‘near’	yəsłál̓wəł ‘passing over’	técəl ‘arrive here’
níʔ ‘be there’	ném̓ ‘go’	sq̓əq̓áʔ ‘accompanying, with’	cłáqʷθət ‘passing through’	tə́s ‘arrive there’
	xʷəm̓í ‘come to’	stəʔé ‘resembling, like’		x̌ʷtéʔ ‘head toward, than’
	xʷném̓ ‘go to’			təl̓í (~ təlíʔ) ‘be from’
				yəłəl̓é (~ yəłəʔé) ‘be going along’

References

Jacobs, P. W. (2011). Control in Skwxwu7mesh. [Doctoral dissertation, The University of British Columbia].

Suttles, W. (2004). Musqueum reference grammar. UBC Press. SFU Student Access.