Relational noun

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

"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

'The cat is sleeping on top of the mat.'

In Mandarin Chinese:

她在房子里头。

Tā

She

zài

be.at

fángzi

house

lǐtou.

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

'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".