The P route

This chapter starts from a comparison of spatial expressions in West African languages noting that while Kwa languages have the Ground DP between a stative/directional P and an (axial) part P (lit. at/to box inside), Chadic languages have the order stative/directional P > (axial) part P > Ground DP (lit. at/to inside box). This order difference is insightfully related to the independent difference between Kwa and Chadic languages in the order of the possessum and possessor by assuming the Ground DP to be the possessor of the (axial) part P (a conclusion converging with that reached by Terzi on the basis of Greek). He also argues that the kinds of displacements attested in the nominal and clausal domain (like ‘predicate inversion’) are also found in the prepositional domain, thus giving substance to the idea that the prepositional domain is parallel to the nominal and clausal domains.