The polysemy of prepositions at, beside, by, near and next to: The horizontal axis of spatial relations

Abstract

Even though some prepositions may appear similar in meaning to others, slight and subtle nuances exist. Thus, exploring the contrasts in their senses is fundamental to developing a description of these distinct meanings. The material for the analysis in this study consists of one thousand examples of each of five prepositions (at, beside, by, near and next to) from the BNC. In a comparative analysis, identifying the frequency of uses is necessary to determine the uses of prepositions and the updated evolution of their applications to express perceived scenes. The novelty in my approach to this research lies primarily in the fact that it is a method which has not been employed before and should therefore offer a freshness and clarity for studying prepositions, yielding new insights into both their uses and into how these uses are to be understood.