adposición

Adposición refers to a class of words, often called adpositions, that express spatial or temporal relations. They typically combine with a noun phrase or pronoun to form a larger grammatical unit, functioning similarly to prepositions and postpositions in other languages. In languages that exhibit adpositions, these elements might precede their complement (an adposition) or follow it (a postposition). The term "adposition" serves as a general category encompassing both prepositions and postpositions. For example, in English, "in" is a preposition, as in "in the box," while in Japanese, "ni" functions as a postposition, as in "hako ni" (in the box). Some languages utilize both prepositions and postpositions, while others predominantly favor one over the other. The distinction between prepositions and postpositions is a typological one, based on their placement relative to their complement. Adpositions are a widespread feature across the world's languages, playing a crucial role in indicating relationships between entities and concepts.