Concept: circumpositional construction

Definition

A circumpositional construction is a nominal that is flagged both by a preposition and a postposition.

Comments

Many authors alternatively use the term "circumposition", treating it as a subtype of adposition. But an adposition is defined as a single morph, and a circumpositional construction by definition includes two adpositions.

Croft's comparative concept

circumposition (STR):

circumposition (STR) = an adposition which occurs as two morphemes, one before and one after the modifier or argument head. Example: in Pashto ter maktaba poori ‘as far as the school,’ the meaning ‘as far as’ is expressed by the combination of ter preceding maktaba ‘school’ and poori following it. (Section 4.3)

Quotation

"[The notion of] circumposition ... does not refer to the possibility of a morpheme occupying either of two positions, but to the fact that it is made of two parts, which occur simultaneously in a phrase, one at its beginning and one at its end, just as one speaks of circumfixes when the bearing unit is not a phrase but a word." (Hagège 2010: 114-115)

Sources

Hagège 2010