Little Words in Different Places


Little Words in Different Places
Articles
In English, the article always precedes its noun. In Seri, spoken in the State of Sonora, the article follows its noun.
		SUBJECT		OBJECT		VERB
	SERI:	Ctam man	cop the	haaco house	cop the	imahooxp. white-washed
	= The man white-washed the house.
Prepositions and Postpositions
English has prepositions like of, to, in, and under. They are called PREPOSITIONS because they precede the other words in their group. In English, we say
	of John to the city in the basket under the table
Rather than prepositions, some languages of Mexico have postpositions which follow the other words in their group. Huichol and Seri both have postpositions rather than prepositions.
	HUICHOL:	mexa table	tüa under		= ‘under the table’
	SERI:	haaco	cop	ano
		house	the	in	= ‘in the house’
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