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From: hirtle@cisunx.UUCP (Steve  Hirtle)
Newsgroups: sci.lang,comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Geographical uses of "in" and "on"
Keywords: spatial language, prepositions, metaphor
Message-ID: <17842@cisunx.UUCP>
Date: 28 Apr 89 13:45:48 GMT
References: <5434@cs.Buffalo.EDU> <17765@cisunx.UUCP> <136@crltrx.crl.dec.com>
Reply-To: hirtle@unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu (Stephen Hirtle)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Sys
Lines: 35

In article <136@crltrx.crl.dec.com> treese@crl.dec.com (Win Treese) writes:
>In article <17765@cisunx.UUCP> hirtle@unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu (Stephen Hirtle) writes:
>>... in American English, "in" is used
>>for larger political divisions, as "in Ireland," whereas "on" is used
>>for smaller units, as "on Staten Island."  
>
>Hmm.  I don't think that the size is the critical issue in the usage for
>political divisions.  In America, at least, one hears "in America",
>"in Massachusetts", "in Cambridge", and "in Kendall Square".  The use of
>"on" for the Staten Island example seems to me to be related more to
>the nature of the island.  But then, we do say "in Manhattan", which
>is very similar to Staten Island as a political subdivision and as an
>island.

You are correct.  The key fact that I left off was that all small 
*islands* or similar units use "on,"  "on Staten Island", "on Nantucket", 
but larger units (even though they are islands or land masses) use "in", 
"in Ireland", "in Cuba".  Both Cuba and Nantucket are islands, yet
suggest different prepositions.  Note that "on" is used with units 
that are isolated or self-contained, even if they are not islands, 
provided that they are relatively small.  For example, we say "on Cape 
Cod", but "in North America."  It is also true that "in Manhattan"
is used suggesting that Manhattan is seen as a larger political unit
rather than a small island.  And your point is well taken that
small political units (e.g., Kendall Square) that are not isolated 
(unlike Cape Cod) would use "in".

Stephen C. Hirtle
Interdisciplinary Department of Information Science
University of Pittsburgh

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