Chapter 1. Introduction.- Part I: Prepositional Phrases of Horizontality and Verticality.- Chapter 2. Prepositional phrases of Horizontality.- Chapter 3. Prepositional phrases of Verticality.- Part II: Prepositional phrases of a Container or Bounded area and the prepositional phrases of Support.- Chapter 4. Prepositional phrases of a Container or Bounded area.- Chapter 5. Prepositional phrases of Pressure and Support.- Chapter 6. Variations in the use of v with the prepositional, v with the accusative, na with the prepositional, na with the accusative, iz with the genitive and s with the genitive.- Part III: Prepositional phrases of Proximity, Colocation and Boundary.- Chapter 7. Prepositional phrases of Proximity.- Chapter 8. The prepositional phrase of Colocation.- Chapter 9. Prepositional phrases do with the genitive and po with the accusative.- Part IV: Prepositional phrases of a Path and the prepositional phrase pro.- Chapter 10. Prepositional phrases of a Path.- Chapter 11. The prepositional phrase pro with the accusative.
The book presents a comprehensive study of Russian prepositions, with a focus on expressing spatial characteristics. It primarily deals with how metaphorical and metonymical transfers motivate the use of Russian prepositional phrases, explaining the collocations of prepositional phrases with verbs as a realisation of a conceptual metaphor or a metonymy. The author confronts a problem that is attracting growing attention within present-day linguistics: the semantics of prepositions and cases. The book seeks to clarify the conceptual motivations for the use of the combinations of Russian primary prepositional phrases, as well as to demonstrate how their spatial meanings are extended into non-spatial domains. This book incorporates an analysis of a large number of items, including 30 combinations of primary prepositions with cases. An original contribution, the book is of interest to teachers and students studying Slavic languages, and to cognitive linguists.