The case of pidgin and creole languages - Linguistics

Dutch preposition English equivalent(s)
om around, for
onder under, beneath
op on
over over, via, about
rond, rondom around
te at, in
tegen against
tegenover opposite
tussen between, among
uit out, out of, from
vóór before, in front of
voorbij past, beyond
Table 2. Dutch prepositions and their English equivalents
Katseff Page Page numbers
Notably, the semantics of these two sets of spatial terms are quite different. To see this,
let us highlight a few pairs of adpositions. First, BDC has a postposition with the
meaning of top/head of creek, while Dutch lacks an equivalent preposition. Additionally,
BDC mainly groups the English concepts of in and on in a single category; this contrasts
sharply with Dutch, which has fine distinctions in this area. Another significant
difference between BDC and Dutch is the close connection of spatial terms to body parts
in BDC. The word atrɛ 'after, back, behind, following' is used prototypically to describe
an animal's back or the back of an arrow. By extension, it is also used to mean 'in view of
someone's back', i.e., following. The spatial analogue of atrɛ is 'behind'. Similarly, for
'before, front, in front, over' can be used to describe a person's forehead and and bow of a
ship. Metaphorically, these terms can be extended to express more abstract spatial
relations: in front of or far ahead in one's line of sight (over).
As mentioned earlier, the substratum languages with the greatest influence on BDC are