| Summary: | The paper concernes the formation in the Northern Samoyedic languages of a system of postpositions expressing the meaning of close proximity to a landmark or of movement towards a landmark / away from a landmark / along a landmark. In the Northern Samoyedic languages, this semantic sphere is quite detailed, distinguishing following meanings: A) ‘the action acciplishes near the landmark / starts in a place near the landmark / takes place near the landmark’ (e. g. near the house); B) ‘the action is directed towards the landmark / directed from the side of the landmark / takes place in the vicinity of the landmark’ (goes to the north; goes from the sea side). C) the action is performed in order to reach a landmark (goes to the house); D) the action implies a close contact between the object and the landmark; in this case the specific localization (‘inside’, ‘on the surface’, ‘on the side surface’) is not important (put it in the hand; wrote on the door); E) the action is performed, being localized in a certain way relative to a landmark (lies with feet to the door); F) the action is carried out strictly according to the course set by a landmark (follows the stars; points the knife at the pole); G) the action implies a “malefactive” contact of an object with a landmark (catched on the stone; cut his hand on the knife). These postpositions also developed a set of non-spatial uses: a) the formation of locative cases of personal pronouns; b) comitative meaning; c) the meaning of the equivalent ‘for the sake of something’, ‘in exchange for something’; d) the meaning of the topic (of messages, thoughts, etc.) ‘about something’. The paper reconstructs the development of the system of postpositions in each Northern Samoyedic language from Proto-Northern Samoyedic to the present state.
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