Relational nounsorrelator nouns are a class of words used in many languages. They are characterized as functioning syntactically as nouns, although they convey the meaning for which other languages use adpositions (i.e. prepositions and postpositions). In Mesoamerica, the use of relational nouns constitutes an areal feature of the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area, including the Mayan languages, Mixe–Zoquean languages, and Oto-Manguean languages.[1] Relational nouns are also widespread in South-East Asia (e.g. Vietnamese, Thai), East Asia (e.g. Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan), Central Asia (e.g. the Turkic languages), Armenian, the Munda languages of South Asia (e.g. Sora), and in Micronesian languages.
A relational noun is grammatically speaking a simple noun, but because its meaning describes a spatial or temporal relation rather than a "thing", it describes location, movement, and other relations just as prepositions do in the languages that have them. When used the noun is owned by another noun and describes a relation between its "owner" and a third noun. For example, one could say "the cup is the table its-surface", where "its surface" is a relational noun denoting the position of something standing on a flat surface.
E.g., in Classical Nahuatl:
Ca
Be
ī-pan
its-on
petlatl
mat
in
the
mistōn.
cat
Ca ī-pan petlatl in mistōn.
Be its-on mat the cat
"The cat is on the mat.'
Similarly, in Japanese:
猫はむしろの上に寝ている。
Neko
Cat
wa
[topic]
mushiro
mat
no
's
ue
top/above
ni
[case marker]
neteiru.
sleeps/lies
Neko wa mushiro no ue ni neteiru.
Cat [topic] mat 's top/above {[case marker]} sleeps/lies
'The cat is sleeping on top of the mat.'
她在房子里头。
Tā
She
zài
be.at
fángzi
house
lǐtou.
interior
Tā zài fángzi lǐtou.
She be.at house interior
"She is in the house.'
Or, in Turkish:
Otel-in
Hotel-'s
ön-ün-de
front-its-at
bir
one
araba
car
var.
existent
Otel-in ön-ün-de bir araba var.
Hotel-'s front-its-at one car existent
'There is a car in front of the hotel.'
Often relational nouns will be derived from, or related in meaning to, words for bodyparts, so that for example to say "inside" one will say "its stomach" or to say "on top of" one will say "its back".[citation needed]
