The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

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(20) a. dan maca matbe’a ba-gina P R
Dan found [a] coin in+the-garden
b. dan ma’amin be-rina P C
Dan believes in-Rina
(21) a. dan natan matana le-rina P C
Dan gave present to-Rina
b. dan maca dira le-rina P R
Dan found apartment for-Rina
c. ha-sefer kal le-kri’a P pred
the book easy to-reading
“The book is easy to read.”
(22) a. dan maca matbe’a mitaxat/me’al ha-sefer P R
Dan found [a] coin under/above the-book
“Dan found a coin under/above the book.”
b. dan azav biglal/le’axar ha-milxama P R
“Dan left because of/after the war.”
Note first, that all the prepositions in (20)-(22) can realize P R , whose function is
to specify the relation of its complement to another entity (2.2.1). On the reasonable
assumption that the specific relation denoted by P R is determined by the meaning of
the preposition instantiating P R , the Ps in (20)-(22) have to be those referred to as
semantically contentful. In other words,
(23) A semantically contentful preposition is a preposition realizing P R .
Viewed this way, the fact that all the prepositions in (20)-(22) can realize P R
indicates that prepositions (in general) are semantically contentful (i.e. meaningful). 27
Some of them, however, can realize additional types of P (i.e. P C (20b) and P pred
(21c)), where they are arguably not contentful (this will be demonstrated in the rest of
27 This does not preclude the possibility that a language will have a P-morpheme with no meaning (as
defined in (23)). The English P-morpheme of might be such an example.