postpositional

Postpositional refers to a type of adposition that follows its complement, typically a noun or noun phrase, rather than preceding it. In languages that use postpositions, the relation expressed by the adposition—such as location, direction, time, or means—appears after the noun. In some languages, the function of postpositions is carried by independent particles after the noun; in others, the same semantic role is expressed by suffixes attached to the noun.

Common languages with postpositional elements include Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian, where particles or postnominal elements attach to or follow the noun to mark case, direction, or location. For example, in Japanese, the direct object marker を (o) comes after the noun in noun–particle order, as in hon o meaning “the book.” Korean similarly uses postnominal particles such as -에서 (eseo) for “at, from” after the noun phrase. In Turkish, the equivalent function is often expressed by postnominal suffixes, as in ev-de meaning “in the house,” with the suffix attached to the noun rather than as a separate word.

Postpositions are contrasted with prepositional systems, where the adposition precedes the noun. Some languages employ both systems or rely on morphological case marking rather than separate postpositions. The postpositional pattern reflects broader typological tendencies in adpositional syntax and interacts with word order and morphological richness to encode spatial, temporal, and other relational meanings.