Dongeun Lee (Erlangen): Collocation Patterns of German Prepositions vor and hinter with Body Part Nouns

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Dongeun Lee (Erlangen): »Collocation Patterns of German Prepositions vor and hinter with Body Part Nouns«

Abstract:

This study investigates the internal and external collocation patterns of prepositions and their interplay with semantic extensions grounded in underlying semantic concepts. As a case study within a broader research project, it focuses on two antonymic German prepositions – vor(in front of) and hinter(behind) – when combined with body part nouns (BPNs) as complements.

Previous research on prepositions has often isolated form from meaning. Cognitive linguistic studies on prepositional semantics emphasize polysemy, where core spatial meanings extend into abstract domains through conceptual metaphors, primarily focusing on abstract spatial schemas (Langacker 1987; Lakoff 1987; Herskovits 1986; Brugmann 1988; Boers 1996; Tyler&Evans 2003;Coventry&Garrod 2004; Radden&Dirven 2007; Lindstromberg 2010; Brenda 2014). However, these approaches often overlook prepositions’ syntagmatic integration into prepositional phrases (PPs). Quantitative corpus-based studies, such as Kiss (2007; 2011), Blanco (2018), and Steyer (2019), rely on top-down approaches that predefine fixed syntactic patterns (i.e., preposition + bare noun combinations), which restrict their scope and eventually entail inherent limitations in capturing the full range of prepositional usage across different syntactic and semantic contexts.

Two key questions guide this research: (1) What collocational asymmetries exist between vor and hinter with BPNs, and do these reflect their antonymic semantic relationship? (2) How do external lexical
environments, (colloprofiles of PPs) correlate with prepositions’ metaphorical extensions? Using data from the DWDS-Kernkorpus (121 million tokens, 1900-1999), corpus-linguistic methods including constructional analysis and external collocation profiling were applied. Subcorpora for each preposition were compiled, and BPN complements were extracted via CQP queries, ranked by frequency. Collostructional analysis identified statistically significant internal arguments, followed by external colloprofile extraction to analyze lexical co-occurrence patterns within a defined span of PPs.

Key findings reveal a correlation between the spatial senses of vor and hinter and the intrinsic orientation of BPNs. Vor strongly associates with front-oriented BPNs (Auge, Mund, Nase), whereas hinter predominantly collocates with Rücken. BPNs with ambiguous spatial orientation (Hand, Kopf) or those frequent with both prepositions (Gesicht) exhibit marginal associations, suggesting spatial orientation functions as a baseline selectional criterion.

External collocation patterns further correlate with metaphorical extensions. For instance, vor den Augen predominantly co-occurs with concrete nouns (e.g., Brille, Schleier) in literal spatial contexts. In contrast, vor Augen primarily pairs with abstract nouns (e.g., Plan, Ziel, Tod), reflecting its extension into mental representation. Notably, these abstract nouns often carry future-oriented connotations, which aligns with vor’s spatial schema of ‘frontness’ mapped onto temporal horizontal axis. Similarly, concordance analysis reveals that vor der Nase appears most saliently in the pattern Tür vor die Nase schlagen, evoking metaphors of blockage or obstruction.

This research underscores the interplay between prepositional semantics and collocational behavior, suggesting that PPs function as cognitively salient constructions with varying degrees of schematicity.
Methodologically, it highlights concordance-based analysis as a key tool for identifying syntagmatic patterns that bridge spatial semantics and conceptual extensions. The integration of internal argument structure with external colloprofiles offers a novel approach to advance beyond prototype-based approaches. To this end, this research proposes a bottom-up framework that systematically analyzes usage-based patterns of prepositional constructions.

Selected References:

Blanco, M. (2018). Unter Tränen, unter Beifall: Das Präpositionalmuster [unter+SUBSOMAT (+von/Genitivattribut)]. In: Filatkina & S. Stumpf (Eds.), Konventionalisierung und Variation, 201-228. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Boers, F. (1996). Spatial prepositions and metaphor: A cognitive semantic journey along the up-down and the front-back dimensions, vol. 12. Gunter Narr Verlag.

Brugman, C. (1988). The Story of over: Polysemy, semantics and the structure of the lexicon. New York: Garland.

Kiss, T. (2007). Produktivität und Idiomatizität von Präposition-Substantiv-Sequenzen. Zeitschrift für
Sprachwissenschaft, 26(2), 317-345.

Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. What Categories Reveal About the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Langacker, R. (1987). Foundations of cognitive grammar. Vol. I. Theoretical Prerequisites. Stanford:
Stanford University Press.

Steyer, K. (2019). Für Jahre vom Tisch sein. Temporale Präposition-Nomen-Verbindungen zwischen Zeitreferenz und modal-diskursivem Gebrauch. Präposition-Nomen-Verbindungen:
Korpusstudien zu Gebrauch und Musterhaftigkeit phraseologischer Minimaleinheiten, 9-48.